Chinese abducted in Iraq earned only 3 dollars a day

[seemslikeadream]

14 April, 2004
CHINA - IRAQ
Chinese abducted in Iraq earned only 3 dollars a day

Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) – The Italian security and body guards abducted in Iraq, whose capture is linked to a ring of mercenaries, earned about 900-1000 dollars a day. The seven Chinese kidnapped and freed in Falluja earned only about 3 dollars a day.

The English-language Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post, published a small behind-the-scenes article today on the lives of the abducted far east citizens. The article says that were invited to come to Iraq with promises of healthy monthly earnings (5000-6000 yuan or 625-750 euro). According to the Chinese daily, Jiefang, the Chinese workers had to pay 23,800 yuan (around 3000 euro) to a middleman in order to be accepted into the group of immigrants. In citizens’ home province of Fujian, the seven former fishermen and farmers could earn about 900 yuan (100 euro) a month.

The seven men, between the ages of 18 and 49, had traveled to Iraq to repaint a hotel. Yet upon their arrival there were sent to hard labor jobs and paid barely enough to survive.

Lin Kongmin, 18, is the youngest of the group. His uncle, Lin Zhenghua said his family didn’t know that there was war in Iraq. His finally is still in financial difficulty. Lin Kongmin’s father has just suffered a small heart attack and still needs to work to maintain his two children

more
http://www.asianews.it/view.php?l=en&art=621

[displacedtexan]

1. I don't even know the words for how horrible that news is!

In any language.

[Just Me]

2. I do not see who the "middleman" was recruiting for,...

,...why is there no indication of the company or otherwise for whom the "middleman" was recruiting?

[daleo]

3. They were probably collateral damage for Halliburton profits

Halliburton probably hired a sub-contractor, then looked the other way, while they split the excess profits with the middleman. Sure it is speculation, but ultimately money has to flow through one of the big guys - tax money, by the way.

[0007]

4. awshitty