Three maids end life in Saudi capital in a week

That so many foreign housemaids are committing suicide indicates just how horrific conditions are in Saudi Arabia.  It is especially telling because these maids are Muslims and suicide in Islam is one of the greatest sins a Muslim can commit.

FROM EMIRATES247.COM:

Three maids end life in Saudi capital in a week

By Staff

Published Monday, January 14, 2013

Three housemaids committed a suicide by hanging themselves at their employers’ houses in the Saudi capital Riyadh in less than a week.

Two Ethiopian maids were found hanged by the ceiling fan at home while an Indonesian was found with her neck tied to the window.

“Police are still investigating these separate suicide cases which took place in Riyadh in just six days,” Kabar newspaper said.

Scores of Asian and African domestic workers have been reported to have committed a suicide in Saudi Arabia over the past years because of mistreatment and other factors. Other maids were involved in murdering or injuring their employers.

Saudi Arabia, the world’s top oil exporter, is the largest Arab base for foreign domestic workers, with hundreds of thousands of maids from Ethiopia, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and other countries working in the Gulf Kingdom of nearly 28 million people.