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Indian Woman Whose Arm Was 'Chopped Off By Saudi Arabian Boss' Gives Emotional BBC Interview

Maid Reveals Moment Her Arm Was 'Chopped Off By Saudi Boss'
George Bowden
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An Indian maid who says her arm was completely severed by her Saudi employer has spoken of the moment she woke to find she was permanently disabled.

Kasturi Munirathinam spoke to BBC Newsnight following her return to India, after receiving close to a month of treatment in hospital.

With her husband incapacitated, Kasturi became her household's only source of income after her son was injured at work, eventually prompting her to apply to become a domestic maid in Saudi Arabia - on the promise of a good wage.

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Kasturi Munirathinam believes she will never work again after the incident

"Agents said they'll take me," she told the programme, "They said I will be paid a lot of money for domestic work."

Kasturi was sent to a family in Riyadh, who promptly took her passport and persuaded her not to leave the home by instilling fear of an attack due to her speaking Tamil, the Dravidian language spoken by millions of Indians.

Despite an initially welcoming reception from the family, Kasturi says her employer quickly began mistreating her, serving old food and taking away her mobile phone charger. Coupled with a lack of Arabic, Kasturi believed she was all but cut off from the outside world and her family back home.

"She wouldn't put a SIM card in my mobile phone," Kasturi said, "She took away the charger".

But when she expressed a desire to leave her employer, she was threatened with arrest. In desperation, Kasturi fled to a neighbouring property where other domestic staff spoke Tamil, only to be found by her employer and dragged back to the house.

"My employer came looking for me. She grabbed me by the hand and took me back home," she told the programme.

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Kasturi's version of events has been disputed by police

Soon a threat of violence was made. "She gestured to her neck and made a swirling action with her hand."

It was then Kasturi says she felt compelled to act, gathering together material to make a rope with which to escape the property from a window.

Whilst doing so, her employer approached the window behind her. Kasturi can remember little else other than a "sharp sound".

She later awoke in hospital, to find her entire right arm had been amputated.

Kasturi's version of events is heavily disputed by the Saudi police, who say she suffered mental delusions and chopped of her arm herself.

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Kasturi Munirathinam in hospital

Nonetheless, her story led to condemnation across the world, and to the Indian authorities compensating her and ensuring she could return home safely.

It continues to allow its citizens to work in the Kingdom, unlike Indonesia which has banned migration to the country.

There are around 500,000 Indians working in Saudi homes, and India has sought to improve rights and conditions for its citizens working in the Kingdom. 10% of Indian domestic workers are women.

For Kasturi, there can be only one solution: for India to join other countries in banning its citizens from working in Saudi Arabia.

"Don't go there. We should not give permission to anyone to go to that country," she said.

Nine Lectures For Saudi Arabia
Britain doesn't lash grandfathers for making wine (01 of09)
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Karl Andree, who has survived cancer and suffers from asthma, was arrested in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia in August last year for breaching the country's strict anti-alcohol laws.

The grandfather-of-seven was sentenced to receive 350 lashes for making his own wine.

More than 80,000 people signed a petition calling for the release of the 74-year-old amid fears he could die from the punishment.

Rumours circulated that the Prime Minister was intervening on the issue and last week it was announced that the British Foreign Secretary said he is not expecting Saudi Arabia to carry out the punishment.
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Britain doesn't allow migrant workers to be treated like slaves(02 of09)
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With more than 9 million migrant workers in Saudi Arabia, many working in conditions tantamount to slavery. A sponsorship system is open to abuse from employers who often enforce work by withholding passports and wages.

Human Rights Watch said: "Many suffer abuses and exploitation, sometimes amounting to conditions of forced labour."

HRW added: "Domestic workers, most of them women, frequently endure a range of abuses including overwork, forced confinement, non-payment of wages, food deprivation, and psychological, physical, and sexual abuse without the authorities holding their employers to account."

Last month, an Indian maid (pictured) allegedly had her hand chopped off by her employer in Saudi Arabia when she complained about her working conditions and tried to escape.

Kasturi Munirathinam, 55, was hospitalised after her right hand was cut off when she tried to escape from her employer's house, her sister told The Indian Express.
Britain doesn't crucify teenagers (03 of09)
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Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 at the age of 17 for taking part in an anti-government protest in Saudi Arabia. He was found guilty of encouraging pro-democracy protests and was sentenced to be crucified and beheaded.

His arrest sparked international outrage over concerns about his age and allegations that he was tortured into making a confession.

Another teenager, Dawoud al-Marhoon, was allegedly tortured and forced into signing a confession when he was 17 after he was arrested during protests in Saudi's Eastern Province in May 2012. There are claims that he has been prevented from speaking to his lawyer.

Kate Higham, caseworker at international human rights organisation, Reprieve, said: “The Saudi Government’s misconceived view seems to be that not only must Britain keep its mouth shut about their horrific abuses – we should also be actively supporting them.

“If Britain had gone ahead with providing services to the Saudi prisons system, we would have been complicit in the horrific sentences handed down to Ali, Dawoud and others like them.

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Britain allows women to drive(04 of09)
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Saudi Arabia imposes a strict interpretation of Islamic law, forbidding women to work or travel without the authorisation of their male guardians.

Floggings and death sentences are commonplace for women who flout these laws.

In June, it was announced that Saudi Arabia was considering allowing women to drive without a man's permission permission, although they would still be required to have a chaperone at all times.
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Britain lets refugees into the country(05 of09)
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Despite its proximity to war-stricken Syria, Saudi Arabia is among the Gulf States not to offer a single resettlement place to refugees, according to Amnesty International.

The group reports that "from Asia to Europe, large wealthy countries have turned their backs on Syrian refugees. All six Gulf countries, Russia and Japan have not offered to resettle a single refugee".

Many human rights campaigners have highlighted the low number of refugees the Gulf State has taken in.

Writing in the IB Times, Sultan Sooud al-Qassemi, a UAE-based columnist, said: "With great power comes great responsibility. The Gulf must realise that now is the time to change their policy regarding accepting refugees from the Syria crisis.

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Britain allows women to participate in the same Olympic competition as men(06 of09)
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Earlier this year, a Saudi Arabian official suggested that the nation co-host the Olympics with neighboring Bahrain by having male and female athletes compete in separate countries.

Prince Fahad bin Jalawi Al Saud, an international relations consultant to the president of the Saudi Arabian Olympic Committee, said the men's events could take place on Saudi territory and the women's competitions in Bahrain.

International Olympic Committee President Thomas Bach dismissed the idea straight away, saying Saudi Arabia would be ineligible to bid for the Olympics unless it complies with rules barring discrimination against women in sports.

"A commitment to 'non-discrimination' will be mandatory for all countries hoping to bid for the Olympics in the future," Bach said. "If this is not applied, the bid would not be admissible. Countries like Saudi Arabia must really work to allow female athletes to 'freely participate.'"

Saudi women are largely unable to participate in sports. Even from a young age at school, physical education is not on the curriculum for girls.
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Atheists aren't branded as terrorists under British law(07 of09)
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Atheists were defined as terrorists under a raft of new Saudi Arabian laws, Human Rights Watch discovered.

The new laws, accompanied by a series of related royal decrees, criminalise virtually all dissident thought or expression as terrorism.

“Saudi authorities have never tolerated criticism of their policies, but these recent laws and regulations turn almost any critical expression or independent association into crimes of terrorism,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East and North Africa director at HRW.

Regulations from the Interior Ministry cite “terrorism” provisions to include: “Calling for atheist thought in any form, or calling into question the fundamentals of the Islamic religion on which this country is based.”
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Britain doesn't execute a person every other day(08 of09)
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Saudi Arabia executes one person every two days, according to a report from Amnesty International.

In the report publish in August, the Kingdom killed 175 people in the 12 months.

The document, “Killing In the Name of Justice: The Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia," also detailed how the state had put at least 2,208 to death between January 1985 and June 2015.

Nearly half of that 2,208 were foreign nationals, many of whom lacked the Arabic skills to understand court proceedings and charges, the report said. Almost a third of those executed were for drug-related offenses.

"Saudi Arabia's faulty justice system facilitates judicial executions on a mass scale," said Boumedouha, acting director of Amnesty's Middle East and North Africa program, said in a statement.
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Britain allows spouses to insult their partners, even on WhatsApp(09 of09)
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Instant messaging service, WhatsApp, was cited as the reason for a divorce between a couple in Saudi Arabia.

An Arab husband filed to end his marriage after saying that his wife had the WhatsApp status message: “I pray to be patient enough to put up with you”, followed by his initials, according to local reports.

Arabic daily newspaper Al-Hayat reported that the couple’s relationship had already been under stress, but that the status was “the last straw”.

Several media reports state the woman was sentenced to 70 lashes and a fine of 20,000 riyals for “insulting” her husband in this manner.
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