Thursday, March 01, 2007
the mercy seat is singing
"A couple who tried to treat a Filipino maid like an inmate of Iraq's Abu Ghraib prison have been jailed in Dubai for three years for torture and sexual harassment, a newspaper reported Wednesday."
With this one, I don't even know where to start - the disgusting, deplorable, sickening way that migrant workers are treated - especially domestic workers, especially in the Gulf?
The strange way in which the case is described? The guy involved is Iraqi, no less. Having worked at a newspaper, I wonder how much of a central issue the 'Abu Ghraib' comment was to the case - and how much the editor thought it would put a more exciting spin on yet another story about the abuse of a migrant/ domestic worker.
The three year sentence? While I'm pretty sure that previously, migrant workers have been sentenced to almost that much jail time for stealing car tyres or copper wires from construction sites?
Not that I think a prison sentence is the solution - but if they're going to be dished out then I would expect it to be done so with a measure of fairness.
With this one, I don't even know where to start - the disgusting, deplorable, sickening way that migrant workers are treated - especially domestic workers, especially in the Gulf?
The strange way in which the case is described? The guy involved is Iraqi, no less. Having worked at a newspaper, I wonder how much of a central issue the 'Abu Ghraib' comment was to the case - and how much the editor thought it would put a more exciting spin on yet another story about the abuse of a migrant/ domestic worker.
The three year sentence? While I'm pretty sure that previously, migrant workers have been sentenced to almost that much jail time for stealing car tyres or copper wires from construction sites?
Not that I think a prison sentence is the solution - but if they're going to be dished out then I would expect it to be done so with a measure of fairness.
