InfoAnda - Sexual prey in the Saudi jungle

Pakistanis angry over detentions in Times Sq. case
Monday, May 24, 2010
ISLAMABAD – Relatives of three men detained by Pakistan for alleged links to the suspect in the attempted Times Square bombing say the men are innocent.
They

Taiwan denies boycotting Australian film festival
Thursday, August 6, 2009

AFP - Thursday, August 6TAIPEI (AFP) - - Taiwan's Beijing-friendly government on Wednesday denied boycotting an Australian film festival amid a row over the e

Merkel's support dips, regional ally resigns International
Thursday, September 3, 2009

By Sarah Marsh and Noah Barkin

BERLIN (Reuters) - Chancellor Angela Merkel suffered a double blow on Thursday as a senior party ally in east German

Minister seeks closure of anti-Berlusconi websites
Wednesday, December 16, 2009
ROME (AFP) - – The Italian government moved Tuesday to close down Internet sites encouraging further violence against Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, who

Asian markets mixed after Wall Street rally
Wednesday, March 18, 2009

By ELAINE KURTENBACH,AP Business Writer AP - Wednesday, March 18SHANGHAI - Asia's stock market rally seemed to be running out of steam Wednesday, despite an

Japan cabinet agrees major stimulus budget | 26 October 2010
Bissau army hold president, former premier in coup | | 14 April 2012
Wal-Mart offers tech support for shoppers | 23 October 2009

Mexican beauty queen caught in anti-drug raid | International | | 24 December 2008

Forum Views () Forum Replies ()

Read more with google mobile : Sexual prey in the Saudi jungle

Yahoo! My Yahoo! Mail More Yahoo! Services Account Options New User? Sign Up Sign In Help Yahoo! Search web search Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Weekend Edition Australia China India Indonesia Japan Malaysia Philippines Thailand Vietnam Sexual prey in the Saudi jungle ANN - Sunday, January 30 Send IM Story Print Manila (Philippine Daily Inquirer/ANN) - He was an officer in the Saudi Royal Navy assigned to the strategic Saudi base of Jubail in the Persian Gulf. She was a single mom from Mindanao in the Philippines who saw, like so many others, employment in Saudi Arabia as a route out of poverty. When he picked her up at the Dammam International Airport in June, little did she know she was entering, not a brighter chapter of her life but a chamber of horrors from which she would be liberated only after six long months. The tale of woe recounted by Lorena (not her real name) was one of several stories of rape and sexual abuse that were shared by domestic workers with members of a fact-finding team of the Committee on Overseas Workers' Affairs (COWA) of the House of Representatives. The high incidence of rape and sexual abuse visited on the women we met in Philippine government-run shelters for runaway or rescued domestic workers in Jeddah, Riyadh, and Al Khobar most likely reflects a broader trend among Filipina domestics. "Rape is common," said Fatimah (also an alias) who had been gang-raped in April 2009 by six Saudi teenagers. "The only difference is we escaped to tell our story while they're still imprisoned in their households." Rape: the ever-present specter The working conditions of many domestics, which include 18 to 22 hour days and violent beatings, cannot but be described except as virtual slavery. Slavery was abolished by royal decree in 1962, but customs are hard to overcome. Domestic workers continue to be treated as slaves in royal and aristocratic households, and this behavior is reproduced by those lower in the social hierarchy. Apparently among the items of the "job description" of a domestic slave in Saudi is being forced to minister to the sexual needs of the master of the household. This is the relationship that so many other women unwittingly step into when they are placed in Saudi homes by their recruitment agencies. Rape does not, however, take place only in the household. With strict segregation of young Saudi men from young Saudi women, Filipino domestic workers, who usually go about with their face and head uncovered, stand a good chance of becoming sexual prey if they make the mistake of being seen in public alone--though the company of a friend did not prevent Fatimah from being snatched by her teenage captors. And the threat comes not only from marauding Saudi youth but also from foreign migrant workers, single and married, who are deprived by the rigid sexual segregation imposed by the ever-present Religious Police from normal social intercourse with women during their time in Saudi. Lorena's tale Lorena is in her mid-twenties, lithe, and pretty--qualities that marked her as prime sexual prey in the Saudi jungle. And indeed, her ordeal began when they arrived at her employer's residence from the airport. "He forced a kiss on me," she recalled. Fear seized her and she pushed him away. He was not deterred. "One week after I arrived," she recounted, "he raped me for the first time. He did it while his wife was away. He did it after he commanded me to massage him and I refused, saying that was not what I was hired for. Then in July he raped me two more times. I just had to bear it [Tiniis ko na lang] because I was so scared to run away. I didn't know anyone." While waiting for her employer and his wife in a shopping mall one day, Lorena came across some Filipino nurses, whom she begged for help. Upon hearing her story, they gave her a sim card and pitched in to buy her a load. But the domestic torture continued. She would be slapped for speaking Arabic since her employer's wife said she was hired to speak English. She was given just one piece of bread to eat at mealtime and she had to supplement this with scraps from the family's plates. She was loaned to the wife's mother's household to clean the place, and her reward for this was her being raped by the wife's brother; kinship apparently confers the right to rape the servants of relatives. Also during that month, October, she was raped--for the fourth time--by her employer. She not only had to contend with sexual aggression but with sheer cruelty. Once, while cleaning, she fell and cut herself. With blood gushing from the wound, she pleaded with the employer's wife to bring her to the hospital. She refused, and when Lorena asked her to allow her to call her mother in the Philippines, she again said no, telling her this was too expensive. The employer arrived at that point, but instead of bringing her to the hospital, he said, "You might as well die." Lorena had to stanch the wound with her own clothes and treat herself with pills she had brought with her from the Philippines. Rape amidst rescue Wildly desperate by now, Lorena finally managed to get in touch with personnel of the Philippine Overseas Labor Office (POLO) in Al Khobar. Arrangements were made to rescue her on December 30. That morning, the rescue team from POLO and the local police arrived at the residence. Lorena flagged them frantically from a second story window and told them she wanted to jump, but the team advised her not to because she could get break her leg. That was a costly decision, since the employer raped her again--for the fifth time--even with the police right outside the residence. When she dragged herself to her employer's wife and begged her to keep her husband away from her, she beat her instead, calling her a liar. "I was screaming and screaming, and the police could hear me, but they did not do anything." When the employer realized that he was about to be arrested, he begged Lorena not to tell the police anything because he would lose his job and offered to pay for her ticket home. "I said I would not tell on him and say that he was a good man, just so that he would just let me go [para lang makatakas ako]," Lorena said. When she was finally rescued moments later, Lorena recounted her ordeal to the POLO team and police, and the employer was arrested. Released from captivity, Lorena was determined to obtain justice. However, arduous bureaucratic procedures delayed a medical examination to obtain traces of semen right after her rescue. When it was finally conducted, she was given an emergency contraceptive pill--an indication, said the POLO officer who led the rescue, that seminal traces had been found in and on her. Also, the examination revealed contusions all over her body and bite marks on her lips. The criminal investigation is still ongoing and the employer, who has been identified as Lt. Commander Majid Al-Juma-in, is still in jail at the Dammam Police Station. Lorena is worried that the evidence might be tampered with. "These people are influential," she said. "They have a lot of money. I am only a maid. They said they could put me in prison." Her fear is palpable. Her greatest wish is to be repatriated but she knows she must stay till he is convicted and sentenced to death. Saudi society: a sexual pressure cooker Lorena's story shows, according to one Embassy official, that rape and cruelty is not confined to the lower class Saudi households. "This is an officer in the Saudi Navy, somebody that comes from the educated class." The reasons why rape and sexual abuse are endemic provoked an animated discussion among those who heard her. The strict sexual segregation, one member of the House team speculated, must create tremendous pent-up sexual pressure, so when the opportunity for sexual satisfaction appears, it explodes. Another said that the sexual abuse of domestics was an extension of the strict subordination to males and institutionalized repression of Saudi women. Whatever the causes, Saudi society is suffused with latent sexual violence, much more so than most other societies. Decision point for the Aquino administration Other societies have begun to take drastic steps to protect their citizens in Saudi Arabia. After a much-publicized case in which an Indonesia domestic worker suffered internal bleeding and broken bones from a ferocious beating by her employer, who pressed a hot iron on her head and slashed her with scissors, two labor-exporting Indonesian states, West Nusa Tenggara and West Java, banned the recruitment of domestics for employment in Saudi Arabia last December. Earlier, in October, the Sri Lankan Ministry of Labor backtracked from an agreement arrived at between the Saudi National Recruitment Agency and the Sri Lankan labor federation, asserting that the terms of the agreement was unfavorable to the Sri Lankan domestics and the Sri Lankan economy. This led the Saudis to indefinitely freeze recruitment from Sri Lanka. These moves by other governments have led to greater demand for Filipino domestic workers. While the informal policy of the Philippine government has been to slow down the recruitment of domestics to Saudi, legal and illegal recruiters, many of them tied to Saudi interests, have been trying to step it up. The Aquino administration may soon reach a critical decision point on the issue of Saudi recruitment since the amended Act on Overseas Workers (Republic Act 10022) requires the Department of Foreign Affairs to certify that a country is taking steps to protect labor rights if workers are to be deployed there. With its hideous record and its resistance to expanding coverage of its labor code to domestic workers, there is no way Saudi Arabia can be certified. Tattered lives For members of the recent House mission to Saudi, who were shocked to speechlessness, by the torrent of tales of cruelty, domestic repression, and rape, there is a consensus that every effort must be made to prevent Filipinas from going to Saudi to prevent recurrence of tragedies such as those visited on Lorena and Fatimah. For the many who have already been raped and degraded sexually, however, a move to prevent the deployment of more women to Saudi Arabia comes too late. Lorena may well secure the conviction of Lt. Commander Majid, but that will not restore her to her former self. As Fatimah put it in a handwritten note she passed on to the team, although her tormentors had been sentenced to seven years imprisonment and 2500 lashes each, "there's no equivalent amount for what they've done. They destroyed my life, my future." Walden Bello of Akbayan is chairman of the Committee on Overseas Workers' Affairs (COWA) of the House of Representatives. He recently led a fact-finding mission to Saudi Arabia accompanied by Reps. Carmen Zamora-Apsay, Emmeline Aglipay, and Crescente Paez. Recommend Send IM Story Print Related Articles Tibetans rally behind monk after police raid AFP - 32 minutes ago India brings private eye to US film festival AFP - Sunday, January 30 Clijsters breaks Chinese hearts at Australian Open AFP - Sunday, January 30 Hundreds mourn Hong Kong democracy icon AFP - Sunday, January 30 China to double imports by 2015 to balance trade ANN - Sunday, January 30 News Search Top Stories Doha trade deal deadline fixed 'for July' Saudi stock market down 6.43% amid Egypt tensions Flu epidemic shuts all Moscow schools France says troubled euro has 'turned the corner' US growth hits highest level in five years More Top Stories » ADVERTISEMENT Most Popular Most Viewed Charlie Sheen rushed to hospital after 'wild' party US growth hits highest level in five years Flu epidemic shuts all Moscow schools 'Thunder-snow' storm buries US north-east Egypt activists keep up the heat, boosted by ElBaradei More Most Viewed » More Most Recommended » Elsewhere on Yahoo! Financial news on Yahoo! Finance Stars and latest movies Best travel destinations More on Yahoo! News Home Singapore Asia Pacific World Business Entertainment Sports Technology Weekend Edition Subscribe to our news feeds Top StoriesMy Yahoo!RSS » More news feeds | What are news feeds? Also on Yahoo! Answers Groups Mail Messenger Mobile Travel Finance Movies Sports Games » All Yahoo! Services Site Highlights Singapore Full Coverage Most Popular Entertainment Photos Yahoo! News Network Copyright © 2011 Yahoo! Southeast Asia Pte. Ltd. (Co. Reg. No. 199700735D). All Rights Reserved. Terms of Service | Privacy Policy | Community | Intellectual Property Rights Policy | Help

Other News on Saturday, 29 January 2011
Analysis
Egyptian Internet cutoff 'unprecedented': Renesys
Mubarak orders army to back police against Egypt unrest
US growth hits highest level in five years
Apple launches iPad in India
Jordanian protesters demand political reforms
Ford doubles profit in 2010, disappoints in Q4
Jordanian protesters demand political reforms |
US-TECH Summary
Egypt shows how easily Internet can be silenced
Bruno Mars beats out Britney to reclaim #1 on the Billboard Hot 100
Egyptians carry dead protester through Suez
Albania opposition calmly honors dead protesters |
Website invites Russians to say 'Goodbye Putin!'
Iran nuclear plant will be 'ready in April'
Exclusive: The next generation of WikiLeaks
Sixty raped in attacks on Congo villages: U.N. |
Brazilian kept wife in cellar for 16 years: police |
Wikileaks spin-off group launches new site
South Korea sink Uzbeks to claim 2015 berth
Prominent Cuban dissident defiant after detentions |
Top Tibetan monk raided by Indian police
Severe malnutrition after Pakistan floods: UNICEF
Microsoft shares fall; tablet worries abound
War crimes court dismisses Taylor's claims of bias over cables |
In U.S. courts, Facebook posts become less private
American involved in Pakistan shooting claims self-defence
New START treaty to enter into force Feb 5
India raids "living Buddha" over alleged illegal funds
Young, web savvy fight for Egypt against Mubarak
Medvedev signs law ratifying Russia-U.S. arms pact
Chinese boost prices in world's auction houses
American remanded in Pakistan over double killing
Salzburg's 'Glockenspiel' chimes again
US-ENTERTAINMENT Summary
Charlie Sheen back home, plans return to TV set
US steak, burger lovers face beefier prices
French festival exposes Japan's female manga underground
Transsexual set to take Brazil fashion week by storm
Exclusive: The next generation of WikiLeaks |
S. Korea rice consumption falls to record low
Wikileaks spin-off group launches new site |
Sundance film puts spotlight on euthanasia
FCC seeks to dismiss challenges to Internet rules |
U.S. review of Huawei/3Leaf under way |
SanDisk shares dive, hit margin, price fears |
NTT DoCoMo profits rise in nine months
Pakistani stocks end flat; rupee firms; o/n rates down
ADB lends $242 million to Pakistan for power sector
Taiwan due to release full Q4 GDP figures on Feb 17
Hyundai Steel says to add $2.7 bln furnace by 2013
Arizona lawmakers propose another tough illegal immigration law
Showtime salutes Black History Month starting with Bill Withers special
Consumer spending, real gross domestic product rise in last quarter of 2010
Senate Republicans seek end to birthright citizenship
Coachella music festival sells out 2011 tickets in just six days
Ford shares drop after 4Q profit
Sofia Vergara releasing fashion collection for the younger crowd in Kmart
UPDATE 2: U.S. efforts to balance support for popular Cairo protests and fighting terror
Got an Emergency? There is an App for that....
Amazon sells more eBook downloads for Kindle than paperbacks in U.S.
Report: Blunt force trauma cause of Arkansas bird kill
Taco Bell threatens countersuit over beef quality claims
Rep. Kucinich Suing House Cafeteria Over Olive Pit
Lady Gaga's first fragrance to smell like "blood and semen"
Knife-wielding New Yorker holds parents hostage, then surrenders
The fight for Schindler’s list
Graduate school instructor charged with faking military credentials, doctorate
Man who became father at 14 to be a grandfather at 29
Michael Jackson’s doctor pleads not guilty to manslaughter charge
Auction of suspected JFK assassin’s casket, burial records sets off lawsuit
Eight killed in suicide attack on Kabul supermarket
Italian judges defend colleagues in Berlusconi sex inquiry
Instant View
WikiLeaks: The Next Generation
Mandela goes home after hospital treatment
LinkedIn eyes $175 million IPO; investors eye finances
Army disperses protesters from Egypt state TV HQ
Egypt's Mubarak sends in army, resists demands to quit |
Analysts' View
Exclusive: U.S. asks about search fairness in Google/ITA
Suicide bomber kills Kandahar deputy governor |
Google won't be taken to court over data gather
WikiLeaks founder says enjoys making banks squirm |
Iran hangs Dutch woman arrested after protests |
Google updates service tracker amid Egypt shutdown
Nigerian electoral candidate shot in northeast city |
Japan upgrades travel warning for Egypt
Egypt's Internet shutdown draws fire in US
China's Li Na set for historic Slam final
Global minimum and maximum temperatures
N.Zealand wilt as Pakistan's Hafeez makes century
"Glee" star Lea Michele to sing at Super Bowl
FCC seeks to dismiss challenges to Internet rules
Prominent Cuban dissident hospitalized after arrest |
Hundreds mourn Hong Kong democracy icon
Sri Lanka leader sued in US
Australia warns against Egypt travel
China's Li hopes for fairytale ending at Aussie Open
Thousands brave Canadian cold to catch tiny ice fish
Twin truck bombings kill four, injure 19 in Pakistan
Hopkins seeks the 'devil' inside, in new film
Akishino visits Costa Rica children's hospital
"The Rite" poised to top weekend box office
Final send-off for Hong Kong democracy icon Szeto
LinkedIn eyes $175 million IPO; investors eye financials |
WikiLeaks founder says enjoys making banks squirm |
Bruno Mars to plead guilty to cocaine possession
Exclusive: U.S. asks about search fairness in Google/ITA |
Demi Lovato out of rehab, return to TV show uncertain
Britney Spears album confirmed for March 15 release
Royal wedding grips U.S. TV, but who to play Kate?
WikiLeaks: The Next Generation |
"Glee" star Lea Michele to sing at Super Bowl
Charlie Sheen back in rehab, TV show on hold |
Bruno Mars to plead guilty to cocaine possession |
Demi Lovato out of rehab, return to TV show uncertain |
Britney Spears album confirmed for March 15 release |
Royal wedding grips U.S. TV, but who to play Kate? |
The Rite poised to top weekend box office |
American Idol's David Archuleta on the new season |
Glee star Lea Michele to sing at Super Bowl |
YouTube unveils Life in a Day film at Sundance |
Egypt in revolt as Mubarak stands fast
Moscow airport bomber 'targeted foreigners': Russia
Factbox
China micro-blogging sites censor 'Egypt'
France says troubled euro has 'turned the corner'
Afghan suicide bomber kills Kandahar deputy governor
Flu epidemic shuts all Moscow schools
Egyptians defy curfew to call for Mubarak to go |
Iraq water shortages raising ethnic tensions
Iran hangs Iranian-Dutch woman for drug smuggling
Russia says Moscow airport bomber from North Caucasus |
Deputy governor killed in Afghanistan
Iran briefly detains son of opposition leader: report |
Rwanda grenade attack kills two people, wounds 28 |
Prominent Afghan family died in grocery bombing
Mourners, Israel troops clash after West Bank funeral |
Bomber kills deputy governor in south Afghanistan
Pakistan says law must take its course in U.S. diplomat case |
Afghan officials: Kandahar deputy governor killed
Central African Republic candidates say poll rigged |
India brings private eye to US film festival
China to double imports by 2015 to balance trade
Coming polls promise to be fun
COMMENTARY: The Chinay Tiger Mother
UN's food agency urges vigilance vs foot-and-mouth disease in Asia
Rail good trip home for CNY
Sexual prey in the Saudi jungle
Japan minister eyes sales tax hike around 2015
Death toll in Indonesian ferry fire soars to 11
Pakistan leaves policy rate unchanged at 14 pct
India Maruti's profit falls on rising costs
Greece at new risk of being pushed off euro
Bodies of missing Tenn. mom, Jo Ann Bain, and daughter found
Female Breasts Are Bigger Than Ever
AMD Trinity Accelerated Processing Units Now in Volume Production
The Avengers (2012 film), made the second biggest opening- and single-day gross of all-time
AMD to Start Production of piledriver
Ivy Bridge Quad-Core, Four-Thread Desktop CPUs
Islamists Protest Lady Gaga's Concert in Indonesia
Japan Successfully Broadcasts an 8K Signal Over the Air
ECB boosts loans to 1 trillion Euro to stop credit crunch
Egypt : Mohammed Morsi won with 52 percent
What do you call 100,000 Frenchmen with their hands up
AMD Launches AMD Embedded R-Series APU Platform
Fed Should not Ignore Emerging Market Crisis
Fed casts shadow over India, emerging markets
Why are Chinese tourists so rude? A few insights

USD EUR - 1 year graph		BlogMeter 1.01