"We have received this complaint from Foreign Ministry in Colombo, who said the maid has been allegedly tortured by her sponsor. "We are looking for the sponsor. We were able to track down the Saudi recruitment agent in Riyadh and we will summon the sponsor to discuss this issue," the diplomat from the Sri Lankan mission in Riyadh told 'Arab News'.
The maid, 50-year-old Ariyawathie, has returned to Sri Lanka and has been undergoing treatment at Kamburipitya Base Hospital in Matara district, 140 kms from Colombo.
On Sri Lankan TV channel 'Newsfirst Sirasa', the maid showed the marks where the nails had gone through and claimed there were too many people to serve in the house she worked, the report said.
"I had to work continuously since I had to do the chores of all the occupants and when I wanted to take rest due to tiredness, they inserted the nail in my body as punishment. I had to work from dawn to dusk. I hardly slept. They beat me and threatened to kill me and hide my body," she said.
Ariyawathie claimed that she arranged her travel documents to return home on her own expense. "They were really devils with no mercy at all," she said. According to records at the Sri Lankan Embassy, the maid came to the Kingdom on March 25.
The diplomat said that the sponsor had bypassed the mission and made his own arrangements to send the woman home. "We can only deal with cases that come up before the mission." He, however, added that the mission would take action following the complaint to the embassy from Colombo.
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