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Indonesian Maid Attempts Suicide in Saudi Arabia

On December 15, 2009

The Saudi edition of the Pan-Arab daily Al-Hayat reported today about the case of an Indonesian maid who was planning to commit suicide in Medina. The maid who is in her 20s, climbed to the fourth floor of an apartment building in northern Medina and threatened to jump. She agreed to step down after security forces arrived at the scene. The maid was then transferred to the hospital and an investigation was launched into what triggered this desperate act.

The paper is already reporting that the preliminary investigation showed that the maid suffers from mental disorders that might have caused this. As we know from numerous cases of suicide by migrant workers, they are often the result of abuse and poor living and working conditions. The Saudi authorities must thoroughly investigate whether these causes might have have triggered this maid's attempted suicide.