Sri Lanka Maid: Saudi Couple Hammered 24 Hot Nails Into Me For Complaining

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan maid returned from her job in Saudi Arabia with 24 nails inside her body – the result of torture by the family who employed her, a doctor and government official said Wednesday.

L.G. Ariyawathi's body is riddled with needles and nails, which are scheduled to be removed Friday, a doctor confirmed Wednesday.

Ariyawathi, 49, returned to Sri Lanka on Saturday from Saudi Arabia and was hospitalized the next day with severe pain at a facility about 100 miles (160 kilometers) away from capital, Colombo, according to media reports.

She told a local newspaper that her employers tortured her with the nails as punishment.

"They (employer and his family) did not allow me even to rest. The woman at the house had heated the nails and then the man inserted them into my body," Ariyawathi was quoted as saying in the Lakbima, a newspaper published in local Sinhalese language.

She told the paper that she went to Saudi Arabia in March and was paid only two months' salary, with her employer withholding three months' salary to buy an air ticket to send her home.

Dr. H.K.K. Satharasinghe of Kamburupitiya hospital said X-rays show Ariyawathi has 24 nails and needles in her body. The nails range from 1-2 inches.

Her initial puncture wounds have healed over, the doctor told The Associated Press by telephone. However, she finds difficult to walk because she has two nails in her knee and two in her ankles.

Another needle is in her forehead, and the rest are in hands, he said.

"Her condition is stable, but we are giving antibiotics and painkillers," Satharasinghe said, adding that doctors will begin removing the nails on Friday.

The 24 nails are "inside the body due to torture meted out by her Saudi employer," Lakshman Yapa Abeywardena, deputy minister of economic development, said in a statement on a government website.

Abeywardena said the government would "report about this matter to the Saudi Government and provide her adequate compensation."

Kalyana Priya Ramanayake, a spokesman for Sri Lanka's Foreign Employment Bureau, said that Ariyawathi had been too afraid to complain about the abuse to Saudi authorities, fearing that her employers might not let her return home. She also did not report the abuse to Sri Lankan officials, until she was hospitalized.

The bureau is a government agency that oversees the welfare of expatriate workers.

Working as maids or drivers, Sri Lankan workers can earn higher salaries overseas. About 1.5 million Sri Lankans work abroad, nearly 400,000 of them in Saudi Arabia alone.

Comments

[Luketer]

03:23 PM on 08/27/2010

This is the same country where during ramadan if u are caught eatin or drinkin from Dawn to dusk u go to jail...says a lot isn't it ?

[uansari1]

01:20 AM on 08/27/2010

This has nothing to do with Islam or Shar'ia, and EVERYTHING to do with the fact that many Arabs are uneducated, ignorant, backwards, racist, and feel that they're better than everyone else! This is also why laborers are brought in from abroad to work on the skyscrapers in Dubai and treated like animals. This is all a result of the fact that they think they're superior, and they are all ridiculously wealthy to boot. They think they're above the law, and far too often, their own governments fail to take any action.

As a Muslim, and more importantly as a human, I am utterly disgusted by this, and sincerely hope that those animals receive the same punishment in return!

[buddhalounge]

05:27 AM on 08/27/2010

Looks like you are making excuses for Islam. The question is why are the Arabs, especially Saudis, ignorant, backward and racist, is it inspite of Islam or because of it? They were the first muslims and are the keepers of the mosque at Mecca and Medina. Some citizens are backwards and racist everywhere, but why has the government made discriminating laws that allows the Arab citizens to get away with abusing non-muslim employees from Phillipines, Srilanka and South Asia? Why does the general public think they are superior, they are not rich and live on subsidies by the government. Is it not because of a sense of religious superiority instilled in them by society, because technologically, culturally and morally they are infact inferior than others.

[wanderingArtist3211]

09:54 AM on 08/27/2010

Excuses for Islam? So if a Christian or Jewish couple did this would it somehow reflect on their religion?

A culture that thinks itself superior to all others will not change its views if there is no one in this culture that tries to contest these views, regardless of whether or not a majority lives on welfare. I mean, look at the American view of superiority to all other countries. This view is quite popular in America. It might even be safe to say that nearly all countries believe themselves to be supior to everyone else.

Even if it is a Muslim couple did this action, it reflects on that couple's views and not the entire population of Muslims.

[uansari1]

11:07 AM on 08/27/2010

I'm pointing out that this has NOTHING to do with Islam. No where in any Islamic text does it say to mistreat a maid or torture an innocent person. This is entirely a cultural hangup that many "khaleeji" Arabs (basically the entire peninsula) have had for centuries.

It is widely known in the Middle East and the subcontinent, that Arabs look at brown people like me (I'm Pakistani-American), as second-class human beings. It has nothing to do with whether the individual is Muslim or not... even Muslim's from Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, etc., are treated like trash... sub-humans.

It's really a widespread phenomena... why? I can't answer it completely, but it definitely has a lot to do with their perception that they are superior thanks to their wealth... and yes, all Saudis ARE wealthy. They're paid stipends by the government from the oil revenues. When it comes to other non-Arab Muslims, I've actually been told by some of my Arab friends that many khaleejis think they're "real Muslims" and are a "chosen people"...and that the rest of us are lesser Muslims.

I agree with you that technologically and culturally, khaleej Arabs are inferior and have failed to move forward. But I'm again reiterating... this has nothing to do with the religion, and everything to do with their backwards, quasi-supremacist culture and abundance of material wealth.

[RodbfromNC]

11:10 AM on 08/27/2010

"uneducated, ignorant, backwards, racist, and feel that they're better than everyone else"
That sounds like the Republican Party!

[uansari1]

11:42 AM on 08/27/2010

Saudis and khaleeji Arabs are considered the "conservatives" of the Muslim world by the rest of us "liberal Muslims", lol...

[pmorlan]

08:06 PM on 08/26/2010

Grrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr. It makes me so angry when I read accounts like this.

[Dave108]

07:52 PM on 08/26/2010

This is an excellent occasion for some typical Saudi justice. Recently a Saudi judge was planning to paralyze a man for causing a similar injury to another.

Unfortunately Saudi Arabia does not consider all human beings as equal. According to Muslim Arabs human beings are rated in the following order - Muslim Arab men, Muslim Non-Arab men, Non-muslim Arab men, Muslim Arab women, Non-muslim non-Arab men, Non-muslim women. (there is further classification by people of 'the book' and not of 'the book').

The victim in the case is so far down the hierarchy, a Saudi judge may only charge the criminals the price of the 24 nails as a punishment.

[callmeray36]

06:11 PM on 08/26/2010

How does one sit still for one nail, let alone 24?

[macweenie]

08:02 PM on 08/26/2010

I guess it helps if your employer holds your passport, is part of the government, and knowing that if hot nails is what you get for complaining then what you get for ratting them out to the authorities HAS to be about a million times worse.

[Paula Ann]

06:07 PM on 08/26/2010

i condemn this human rights atrocity as all decent people would.

what is equally appalling is the families who send their daughters and wives there KNOWING FULL WELL THAT IT HAPPENS.

[Hank26]

05:16 PM on 08/26/2010

Sounds like something a Liberal muslim-loving American would aspire to do to their Christian neighbors.

[YLS2007]

05:37 PM on 08/26/2010

Hank, don't be a silly, whining, right wing, sock puppet tool when you're in an adult forum. Thanks.

[RegLib2]

12:27 AM on 08/27/2010

Fanned!

[martin2]

07:09 PM on 08/26/2010

Hank have another cup of tea.

[Viper1st]

04:52 PM on 08/26/2010

Shariah Law?

[Paula Ann]

05:56 PM on 08/26/2010

no,human rights violation.

[callmeray36]

06:08 PM on 08/26/2010

What's the difference?

[uansari1]

01:22 AM on 08/27/2010

Nice try, but these actions violate Shar'ia law. According to Shar'ia, the people that did this to that poor woman either have to compensate her financially or suffer the same punishment...and it is her decision according to Shar'ia.

[battlinbob]

04:48 PM on 08/26/2010

Come on my fellow progressives, the maid was complaining! Why all of this anti muslim rhetoric???? You guys aren't being progressive enough! Always remember, "In all great battles, someone is bound to get hurt".... The maid wasn't even from a large metropolitan area so it really doesn't matter anyway.... Come on!

[cbrown1389]

04:39 PM on 08/26/2010

I guess they better watch out down there at Fox News with their Saudi Prince boss!

[m1jones]

05:01 PM on 08/26/2010

Fox News is destroying this country. It is owned by foreigners - Rupert Murdoch - an Australian married to a Chinese, and the Saudi Prince. They have figured out how stupid and easy to manipulate many Americans are and feed them a steady stream of propaganda. Through Fox, they control our government when Republicans are elected. It's not the people at Fox News who need to watch out. It's the rest of the country. As a result of instant communications around the world, everyone who is educated around the world now realizes how gullible and ill-informed many Americans are. This is the worst thing for national security. We should all be terrified of Fox News.

[YLS2007]

04:33 PM on 08/26/2010

Nailing the maid in the United States has a far different meaning than it does in Saudi Arabia...

[edejan]

05:01 PM on 08/26/2010

LOL...true. Thought OUR meaning was misogynistic! Who knew?

[AppleBaby]

10:13 PM on 08/26/2010

they translated it wrong, or took it too literally?

[HalEBurton]

04:29 PM on 08/26/2010

This has absolutely nothing to do with the subject of this article....but I have never been able to wrap my mind around the fact that a family somehow owns a country with the world's largest oil reserves.

Oh yeah, makes it easier to negotiate for us. I forgot.

[cbrown1389]

04:40 PM on 08/26/2010

plus they own an AMERICAN (so called) news channel= FOX NEWS

[m1jones]

05:03 PM on 08/26/2010

Because of their practice of having many wives with many children, there are actually about 30,000 people who are part of the ruling family of Saudi Arabia.

[JeffMaylor]

04:24 PM on 08/26/2010

Well it's nice to have a glimpse into America's future.

[LMPE]

04:21 PM on 08/26/2010

Saudi Arabia's tourism slogan should be:

WELCOME TO SAUDI ARABIA
WE'RE THE RICH VERSION OF NORTH KOREA

[gclafontaine]

04:07 PM on 08/26/2010

For a good glimpse into the life of a woman in Saudi Arabia, I recommend "Princess: A True Story of Life Behind the Veil in Saudi Arabia".

[LMPE]

04:20 PM on 08/26/2010

My mom read that, and she said that it made her hate Saudi men.