Bangladeshi housemaid Sumi says she was ‘sold’ for 22,000 riyals in Saudi Arabia

Sumi Akter – the Bangladeshi housemaid whose video appeal for help after alleged torture in Saudi Arabia went viral – has recounted “the cruelty” she had been subjected to.

The 18-year old alleged, on returning home, that her employer in the Gulf kingdom had “sold” her for 22,000 riyals after the torture.

She arrived in Dhaka on Friday morning and the Wage Earners’ Welfare Board took her straight to her parents in Panchagarh.

Her husband Nurul Islam and their children were also there at the airport but he was not given her custody due to security reasons.

Sumi said Nurul had inspired her to go abroad and she was lured with the promise of a good job and salary.

Ruposhi Bangla Overseas was the agency that recruited her in Saudi Arabia and she travelled to the country on May 30.

Her mother Mollica Begum said they had sent Sumi to her maternal uncle in Dhaka where she had taken a job at a readymade garment factory.

“We came to know about the marriage and her going abroad later. Her husband contacted us and told us about the torture 15 to 20 days after she went abroad,” she said.

Sumi told reporters that her employer in Saudi Arabia used to beat her up and torture her in different ways.

“He poured hot oil on my hand one day. He locked me up in a room as I cried,” Sumi alleged.

“When I fell very ill, the owner of the house in Riyadh sold me to another person in Najran near the border with Yemen for 22,000 riyals. I was tortured there as well.

“The owner of that house took away my mobile phone. When he gave it back following repeated requests, I recorded my statement on the torture secretly in the toilet and sent the video to my husband in Dhaka,” she said.

Sumi made international headlines earlier this month after the video was released on social media.

Police later took her to the Consulate General of Bangladesh in Jeddah from her employer’s home, but the employer refused to sign off on her “final exit” before recouping the 22,000 riyal he paid for her.

He eventually allowed her to leave after a labour court rejected his plea for the repayment of the “dues”.