Saudi husband cops jail term for wife's torture of maid

Saudi husband cops jail term for wife's torture of maid

Agence France-Presse, Riyadh

A Saudi court has sentenced a businessman to three years in prison for the torture inflicted by his wife on their Indonesian maid, a newspaper reported on Sunday.

Jeddah judge Mohammed Amin Mordad said the wife tortured the Indonesian maid "by inserting a heated screwdriver into her genitals," Al-Madina said.

Fleeing this "continued" ill treatment, the maid "became hysterical" and sought refuge in the Indonesian consulate in the Red Sea city, the paper said.

The businessman husband, who did not know what his wife was doing to the maid but took responsibility for her actions, was also sentenced to a unspecified number of lashings and ordered to pay US$10,000 in damages.

More than one million foreigners work as domestic helpers in Saudi homes, including 400,000 maids, mainly from Indonesia, the Philippines and Sri Lanka.

Thousands of domestic helpers yearly flee their employers in a variety of disputes including non-payment of salaries, maltreatment by family members, unwillingness to continue work and psychological difficulties.