WUNRN
SAUDI ARABIA - COUPLE "HAMMER
24 NAILS" INTO SRI LANKA MAID
An x-ray shows nails in a hand
of L.T. Ariyawathi, 49, who returned to
Credit:
Reuters/Stringer
(Reuters) - A Saudi couple tortured their Sri
Lankan maid after she complained of a too heavy workload by hammering 24 nails
into her hands, legs and forehead, officials said.
Nearly 2
million Sri Lankans sought employment overseas last year and around 1.4
million, mostly maids, were employed in the
Her family only realized what had happened to her
when she complained of pain and they took her to see the doctor, Foreign
Employment Bureau officials said.
"The landlord and the wife of the landlord
hammered 24 nails into her when she complained of the heavy workload,"
Kalyana Priya Ramanayake, media secretary of the Foreign Employment Bureau,
told Reuters.
Ariyawathi has been taken to hospital for surgery to
remove the nails, which according to the maid were hammered in when they were
hot.
X-rays showed one- to two-inch nails in her hands
and legs, with one over her eyes, officials said.
The Foreign Employment Bureau is consulting the
Attorney-General while the Sri Lankan External Affairs Ministry is to take the
matter up with the Saudi government, officials said.