Returnee domestic workers from KSA speak of torture

At least seven female migrants returned in the last two weeks while another 24 are seeking government assistance to be repatriated after quitting jobs as domestic helps in Saudi Arabia alleging they fell ill after facing abuse and excessive workload.

However, Bureau of Manpower Employment and Training (BMET) Director General Begum Shamsun Nahar, without elaborating, said "five or seven" migrants returned for "illnesses" and that "one or two" might have faced beatings "common in Bangladesh".

Talking to The Daily Star yesterday, she said over 3,000 females went to the Middle Eastern country following the agreement the two countries signed last February for 12 types of workers.

The seven, who had gone between June and July, said they themselves bore the return costs, which was supposed to have been provided either by the Saudi employer or recruiting agency as per the agreement.

Some of the returnees told The Daily Star yesterday that after quitting, they took shelter in a camp of the Saudi recruiting company, Maharan, in Riyadh where the 24 have taken refuge.

The 24 alleged they were not provided proper meals regularly and could not cope with the excessive workload, Mizanur Rahman, first secretary (labour) at the Bangladesh embassy, said over the phone yesterday.

"So they quit and want to come back," he said, adding that they would soon be shifted to the embassy's shelter home and the Ministry of Expatriates' Welfare and Overseas Employment has been informed.

One returnee, Dewan Nargis of Khulna, said she was not only denied salary for the lone month she worked but also had to spend Tk 1.06 lakh to get back.

Working 18 to 20 hours every day for a family comprising over 30 members, she said she had little scope for showers or meals.

"I became seriously ill…One day I fell down a stairway and suffered leg injuries," she said. The injuries prompted her return on August 9.

Though she herself did not face any abuse, Nargis spoke of a fellow, Surovi from Gaibandha's Sundarganj upazila, who was beaten on several days by her Saudi employer and was now at the company's camp.

"Her feet were numb and she found it hard to walk," said Surovi's elder brother Rahidul Islam yesterday, adding that they wrote to BMET on August 13 to bring her back.

Another returnee, Anowara Begum from Cox's Bazar, said her return was prompted by incidents of torture she witnessed at the company's camp.

"Every day Bangladeshi agents and Saudis used to beat women who arrived after quitting their jobs. Some were beaten for refusing to work again," she said, having returned with four others on Friday.