Saudi justice system blind to abuse of foreign workers

[JoFerret]

http://news.independent.co.uk/world/middle_east/story.jsp?story=541132

Migrant workers who move to Saudi Arabia in the hope of a better life and a higher income can instead expect to be faced with torture, unfair trials and forced confessions if they are accused of crimes, according to a scathing Human Rights Watch report released yesterday.

The report, a damning investigation into the corruption and failure of the Saudi justice system to provide redress, also reveals the abysmal and exploitative labour conditions experienced by many foreign workers, who, at 8.8 million, make up one third of the kingdom's population. "Case after case demonstrates that the Saudis are turning a blind eye to systematic abuses against foreign workers," said Sarah Leah Whitson, executive director of Human Rights Watch in the region. "If the Saudi government is serious about reform, this would be a good place to start."

The report, which had to be documented overseas because the Saudi government ignored numerous requests to carry out field research, vehemently criticises the hereditary, unelected rulers who, it claims, choose secrecy over transparency at the expense of justice. The "appalling flaws in the system" are made clear in countless cases of torture, confessions signed under pressure, unfair trials and verdicts without the prisoner's knowledge, the report says.

A man from the Philippines, Joselito Alejo, was imprisoned for five years before his case, for which there was no substantiated evidence and which was eventually abandoned, came to trial. He suffered three weeks of torture and two months in solitary confinement. He recalls how police officials punched him every time he asked to go to the bathroom and extracted a forced confession by threatening to kill him.

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[Joanne98]

1. Hard hitting report........

Let's see the Saudi Royal Family dodge this bullet........

[pfitz59]

2. They don't care...

They are bullet-proof....

[Joanne98]

4. Michael Moore got them good.

The right-wing bashing of Moore just shows how big of Saudi dick-suckers they are.......F9/11 Keep on rocking in the free world........Last song played in F9/11 GREAT MOVIE

[Veggie Meathead]

3. The plight of millions of workers from the Indian Subcontinent,

Thailand, Phillipines, Indonesia and other Asian countries in many rich Arab countries is a scandal that has not caught the attention of our press yet.These workers do all the work in Saudi, Kuwaiti,and other Emirate households.For all practical purposes they are indentured slaves who have no rights in the host countries.As non muslims, they are deemed to have no status in Islamic courts against Moslems.The abuse is particularly severe with young attractive women.The male sof the household force sex upon these victims and the women are afraid to complain.The wives of the masters become aware of their husband's attraction to these young women and become increasingly brutal against them.

I hope organizations like Human Rights Watch take up the case of these workers and bring the Arab countries to justice.

[Massacure]

5. The Middle East has been messed up for a while now

I think that has already been proven.