Saudi official denies maid had nails driven into her

The detail of an X-ray film held up by a doctor shows nails driven into the hand of a Sri Lankan housemaid, who returned from Saudi Arabia with 24 nails inside her body, receiving treatment at a hospital in Batticoloa on August 25. (AFP)

Published Wednesday, September 01, 2010

By AP

A Saudi official has denied a Sri Lankan maid’s allegations that the couple she worked for in the kingdom hammered nails and needles into her body.

Doctors in Sri Lanka have said they removed 13 nails and five needles from LG Ariyawathi after she returned from Saudi Arabia last month.

The items had been driven into Ariyawathi’s legs and forehead, they said.

But Saad Al Badah, the head of a Saudi government department responsible for foreign workers, told state television on Tuesday night that Ariyawathi’s allegations were baseless and amounted to blackmail.

“The whole story is baseless,” said Al Badah.

“It is nothing but blackmail by Sri Lankan labour firms,” he said.

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