Riyadh - A Saudi woman accused of torturing her Indonesian maid has been sent to jail while the maid receives extensive hospital treatment for burns and broken bones, Saudi media said on Tuesday.
Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, has received skin grafts in the intensive care unit of King Fahd Hospital in the Muslim holy city of Medina after being burned with a hot iron by her employer, Al-Watan newspaper said.
She was also treated for fractures in her hands and ribs, the daily added. Her employer, an unidentified Saudi woman of 53, is in prison and undergoing psychiatric evaluation, Al-Watan said.
Saudi and Indonesian officials met in Medina on Tuesday to discuss the case, which has caused shock in both countries for the brutal treatment of Sumiati, one of more than one million Indonesian expat workers in Saudi Arabia.
Reports say she was also slashed in the face and lips with scissors by her employer.
Saudi Arabia's official Human Rights Commission has offered legal support to the woman and to back her case in court if necessary, according to another Saudi newspaper, Okaz.
The commission “will certainly support referral of the case to the judiciary because it is our duty to take a stand on any issue of rights violation forwarded to us,” its president Bandar al-Aiban said, quoted in Okaz.
Officials in the Saudi city of Abha last week recovered the body of another Indonesian maid, Kikim Komalasari, who allegedly died from abuse.
The cases have outraged Indonesians and brought calls for Jakarta to stop sending workers to Saudi Arabia.
According to Indonesian embassy officials, Manpower Minister Muhaimin Iskandar is due in Saudi Arabia on Saturday for talks, and Linda Gumelar, state minister for women's empowerment and child protection, also plans a visit. - Sapa-AFP