Hundreds of Sri Lankan women and rights activists protest near the Saudi Arabia embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka , Monday,Aug. 30,2010. Protesters demanded that Saudi authorities conduct a proper investigation into the hammering of nails into the body of a Sri Lankan maid employed in the Arab country.
(AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne)
Saudi official denies Sri Lankan maid was abused
Hundreds of Sri Lankan women and rights activists protest near the Saudi Arabia embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka , Monday,Aug. 30,2010. Protesters demanded that Saudi authorities conduct a proper investigation into the hammering of nails into the body of a Sri Lankan maid employed in the Arab country.
(AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne)
RIYADH, Saudi Arabia—A Saudi official has denied a Sri Lankan maid's allegations that the couple she worked for in the Gulf kingdom hammered nails and needles into her body.
Doctors in Sri Lanka have said they removed 13 nails and five needles from L.G. Ariyawathi after she returned from Saudi Arabia last month. The items had been driven into Ariyawathi's legs and forehead.
But Saad al-Badah, the head of a Saudi government department responsible for foreign workers, told state television Tuesday night that Ariyawathi's allegations are baseless and amount to blackmail.
The 49-year-old Ariyawathi has said the family she worked for in Saudi Arabia punished her by heating the nails and needles before sticking them into her. She worked in the kingdom for five months.
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