Woman jailed for forcing maid into unpaid labour and seizing passport

TDT | Manama

Email: mail@newsofbahrain.com

A woman has been jailed for three years and fined BD3,000 after forcing a young Asian domestic worker into unpaid labour and confiscating her passport.

The court also ordered her to pay for the victim’s return to her home country.

The High Criminal Court of Appeal upheld the earlier ruling, which found the woman guilty of running an unlicensed labour arrangement and exploiting the worker for a full year.

Visit visa

The 25-year-old victim had arrived in Bahrain on a visit visa with the hope of securing work as a housemaid for BD120 a month.

She was taken in by the accused, made to sleep on the kitchen floor and passed from one household to another.

She worked for nine families in total without receiving her wages after the first two months.

Problem

The accused withheld BD800 and kept the victim’s passport, claiming there was a problem with the document whenever it was requested.

The woman told the court she was moved between homes while the accused collected her wages. She was only paid BD200 in total.

When one of the families offered to sponsor her legally, the accused refused to hand over the passport.

Income

Instead, she continued to send the woman elsewhere and pocketed the income.

An Interior Ministry officer testified that his enquiries pointed to forced labour.

The victim had worked for several families without a proper licence.