Could this kind of thing have anything to do with a mindset that considers unbelievers as the "vilest of creatures" (Qur'an 98:6)? From Arab News, with thanks to Twostellas:
RIYADH, 10 April 2005 — Another Indonesian guest worker is battling to stay alive after being subjected to sadistic tortures and rape by her sponsor.Twenty-five-year-old Suniati Binti Nibaran Sujari is in intensive care with burns to more than half of her body and brutal injuries to her genitals as her life hangs in the balance.
The woman, who worked as maid, was rushed to the intensive care unit of the Riyadh Medical Complex (Shumaysi Hospital) on Thursday morning. Her employer has been detained and is being questioned by police about allegations of sexual harassment and physical torture.
This is the second case of inhuman torture of an Indonesian maid that has surfaced within the last three weeks. Nasser Al-Dandani, the Saudi lawyer who represents the Indonesian Embassy in this case, confirmed the reports of the torture of Suniati but refused to divulge details of the case.
CORRECTION: I cited Qur'an 98:6 in error. Reading the piece quickly I got it in my mind that the maid was a Filipina. An Indonesian, of course, would most likely be a fellow Muslim, so that this story is possibly about Islamic slavery, but is not about treatment of unbelievers.
The tip of the iceberg.
How many of these slave women do not survive to get to hospital? How many have disappeared, dumped in the desert to be picked by carrion, and replaced by the next cargo consignment from further east?
My nickname is a character from the Pratchett discworld novels. One of her sayings is that evil begins when people are treated as things. This is that very mindset, that sees people, not just women, or unbelivers, as commodities.
An Indonesian woman is likely to be a muslim to, I think her torture has more to do with racism and the slave-keeping practises of the Saudi's then with her being an infidel. Burns, rape and brutal injuries at the genitals, her "employer" must be a sadistic femalehating slavekeeper.
Being a muslim does not help if you take up employment wih a Saudi, being at the mercy of a Saudi even less. The only thing that keeps you a little bit safe (and well-paid) is being a westerner, preferably a white one. All muslims are equal in SA, but as the saying goes: some are more equal then others. It is alarming that this simple truth (if you want to know what discrimination is, get a job in an (Middle Eastern Islamic country, want to learn about slavery in our day and time: do likewise) does not wake the people up to the reality.
Ernst:
You're absolutely right. I posted this article at 1:56 AM, and was not, obviously, on top of my game. I read the piece quickly and somehow got the impression that the lady was a Filipina. If I had noticed she was Indonesian, I would not have headed the piece with Qur'an 98:6. I will put up a correction now.
Cordially
Robert Spencer
The Saudi Arabians actually executed a 17 year old Phillipino maid a few years ago.
She had killed her employer (or should that be 'owner') because he had her. When he tried it again, she fought back. I believe the Phillipine government requested clemency but of course they were ignored and this little girl was murdered because she defended herself.
Its a great pity that so many people are compelled by poverty to leave their homes and work in this hellhole. It would be good to see SA deserted by foreign workers - it would be interesting to watch people who cant change a lightbulb try to run a whole country.
Sorry, should have included the actual crime.
It was rape, of course.