Palestinian lawyer denies abusing Indonesian maid

Palestinian lawyer denies abusing Indonesian maid

JAKARTA (JP): Palestinian Ambassador to Indonesia Ribbi Awad
said on Friday that Palestinian police had questioned an employer
over the alleged abuse of a female Indonesian migrant worker in
Gaza last March.

Quoting a letter from the Police Force in the Palestine
National Authority Territories, which was faxed to the
Palestinian Embassy here early on Friday, the ambassador said the
employer, Nihad Sheikh Daib, denied the allegation that he was
involved in the wrongdoing.

"Nihad testified that he did not do any harm to the girl,"
Awad said, referring to the letter which was written in Arabic.

The letter also identified Nihad as a lawyer and was sent upon
the instruction of Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat. It said 14-
year-old migrant worker Mela Windasari Afandi suffered injuries
from a suicide attempt when she threw herself from the fourth
floor of her employer's apartment.

"The attempt occurred when Nihad was not in the house and he
never knew the reason for it.

"Neither he nor his family mistreated her," stated the letter,
which was signed by the Palestinian police chief Gen. Ghazi Al
Jabali.

The letter said further that Mela was unable to adapt to the
new environment in Gaza and that she began complaining of
homesickness before going on hunger strike.

When interviewed at the National Police's Soekanto Hospital in
Kramatjati, East Jakarta, on Friday, Mela strongly denied the
statement from the Palestinian police. She maintained she never
committed suicide nor went on a hunger strike.

"I fell from the third floor after I slipped when I tried to
flee from my employers. I lost my balance and fell to the
ground," she said.

Mela admitted that Nihad, her fourth boss, was a kind man. "It
was his wife who abused me."

The girl's condition deteriorated on Friday. She has decubitus
(an ulcer) on her back and as she had been in bed for a long
time, while her swollen legs could not be moved.

Mela claimed she had been beaten several times by her
employers and agency's staff in Gaza in March. She previously
said she had been beaten in her first three days there, just
because she had diarrhea and had asked to return home.

She was treated at the Al Gaza Hospital (the Palestine police
identified it as As-Shifa Hospital) where she was operated on,
apparently to insert a metal plate into a broken bone, without
her consent.

She also said that it was a staff member at her agency,
identified as Mr. Iyad, who paid the hospital bills.

"My photograph even appeared in the local newspaper, brought
by someone who sympathized with me," she said.

Asked why the Palestinian police's version was different from
that of Mela, Ribbi said: "I am not defending the Palestinian
police but that is the report I received."

The ambassador said while quoting the letter that it was
Arafat who paid all the expenses at As-Shifa hospital.

"It is not because we feel we were guilty, but merely on
humanitarian grounds," he said.

Regarding the surgery, Awad said the hospital had to take
immediate action to save the patient. "She had no relatives there
and she could not speak Arabic well."

Ribbi also said that Mela's case was the first of its kind in
Palestine, and had led the government to act more seriously in
handling migrant workers in the future.

"Our government will implement stricter controls upon the
arrival of migrant workers. Moreover, it is a new phenomenon to
find Palestinian families with servants," he said.

Mela's lawyer, Munir Achmad, said he was not satisfied with
the Palestinian government's reaction.

"The employer should not be just released like that as he
violated the law by employing an underage worker.

"Moreover, Mela had no working permit as she entered Palestine
on a tourist visa. If he (Nihad) is a lawyer, he should know the
regulations," he said. (ind)