Bangladeshi domestic worker returns from Saudi Arabia with scars, blisters

A Bangladeshi woman, who went to Saudi Arabia to work as a domestic help seven months ago, has returned with a harrowing experience and evidence of torture meted out by her employer.

In a video captured by an Arabian passenger of the same flight she took on Tuesday on her way back home, she claimed to have been tortured by her employer in the Gulf kingdom.

In the video, a man is heard interpreting the conversation between the Bangladeshi woman and the Arabian passenger.

Marks of wounds were seen on one of her hands and blisters, usually from fire, on the other, in the video.

The woman told the Arabian passenger that her employer burnt her hands with heated objects whenever she sought to return home.

"I wanted to return because they did not let me talk to my husband and others in Bangladesh by phone," she said.  

She said she had suffered six to seven burns daily for seven months.

The Saudi employer did not pay her either, she alleged.

The employer took her to the airport and got her on the flight after having her signed on a fake receipt of payment, she added.

According to her passport and visa, the woman is from Chuadanga district. She went to Saudi Arabia on Jan 22 this year.  

Her employer Aziza Nashhat Mohammad Ali Kaka's licence number is 1134315884.

Sarwar Alam, labour counsellor at the Embassy of Bangladesh in Riyadh, told bdnews24.com he did not hear about the incident.

"We did not get any compliant from that woman probably because she was put on the flight directly," he said.

He also said the embassy was initiating legal action immediately.