• SLBFE to sue pvt. job agency over woman being forced to swallow nails 

The Sri Lankan Embassy in Saudi Arabia has launched a special probe into the incident of a Sri Lankan woman being forced to swallow five concrete nails while the Sri Lanka Bureau of Foreign Employment (SLBFE) is to take legal action against the private employment agency in Colombo that sent her overseas.

Recently, a woman had lodged a complaint that while working as a domestic worker in Saudi Arabia, she had been forced to swallow five concrete nails and an iron spring instead of food. This domestic worker was brought to Sri Lanka a few days back through the Embassy with the intervention of a doctor from a Saudi hospital.   

When contacted by The Daily Morning yesterday (27), the SLBFE Spokesperson Senarath Yapa said that an investigation team has already been sent to the area where the victim had been employed and that they will be recording statements from the suspects and others regarding the incident as per the directives given by the Sri Lankan Embassy in Riyadh. He further stated that the SLBFE has taken measures to take legal action against the officials of the Sri Lankan agency that sent her to Saudi Arabia and that the Embassy will be taking legal action against the Saudi Arabian agency.

However, Yapa also said that the woman had not lodged any complaint with the Sri Lankan Embassy even though she had visited the Embassy on several occasions, as otherwise, an investigation could have been launched earlier.

The victim is a resident of Elkaduwa in Matale and is the mother of a one-year-old. Her Saudi employer and her (the employer’s) mother had assaulted her after she had complained to the private employment agency in Colombo that she was not getting enough food. She has mentioned in her Police complaint that she was beaten and forced to swallow five nails. She also mentioned that when she came to Sri Lanka and was examined at the Kandy General Teaching Hospital, it was found in the X-ray that two more nails were in her abdomen. She also said that one nail had been removed by the doctors two days ago but that another iron nail remained in the back of her abdomen.