Saudi employer accused of hacking off Indonesian maid’s lips

RIYADH/LONDON - Shocking photographs of a young Indonesian woman lying in a Saudi Arabian hospital with her head bandaged, her lips cut off, burns all over body and broken bones, has created an uproar in her home country.

According to the Daily Mail, her Saudi employer attacked the maid, identified as Sumiati. He has been accused of cutting off part of her lips with scissors, scalding her back with an iron, fracturing her middle finger, and beating her legs until she could hardly walk

Many in Indonesia fear Sumiati is not alone in her suffering.

She arrived in Saudi Arabia in July a high-spirited 23-year-old, eager to start work as a maid to help support her family back home.

Four months later, she is Indonesia’s poster child for migrant abuse, alone and staring vacantly from a hospital bed, her face sliced and battered.

But while public anger has forced President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono’s government to acknowledge the problem for the first time, few expect any firm action to be taken.

Nisha Varia, senior women’s rights researcher at the New York-based Human Rights Watch, has called on authorities to investigate claims promptly and bring those responsible to justice.

She and others called cases like that of Sumiati the ‘tip of the iceberg’. (ANI)