Three Indian domestic workers claim that a Kuwaiti attaché and his wife smuggled them into the United States, where they were forced into slavery-like conditions until they escaped from the diplomat’s McLean home, according to a lawsuit filed in federal court.
The workers claim diplomat Maj. Waleed Al Saleh and his wife, Maysaa Al Omar, required them to work up to 19-hour days, seven days a week and threatened to kill them, according to the suit filed by Mani Kurmari Sabbithi, Joaquina Quadros and Gila Sixtina Fernandes.
Sabbithi, who is now living in New York on a temporary visa, said she was afraid her employers would kill her if she tried to escape.
“I believed that I had no choice but to continue working for them, even though they beat me and treated me worse than a slave,” Sabbithi said in a statement released by the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed the suit on behalf of the women.
In October 2005, Al Omar became enraged at Sabbithi for the way she was preparing a meal. The wife pulled Sabbithi’s hair and threatened to cut off her tongue, the suit alleges. At the commotion, Al Saleh entered the kitchen and pushed Sabbithi to the floor, striking her head on a table corner and knocking her out, the suit alleges.
That night Sabbithi ran to the house of a next-door neighbor, who called police. Three months later Quadros and Fernandes pretended they were going to the second floor to wash laundry, then escaped to a neighbor’s home.
Tahani Alterkati, media attaché, said the Kuwaiti government was investigating the charges Thursday and Al Saleh remained at work. “The embassy does not tolerate any form of abuse,” Alterkati said.
The diplomat and his wife could not be reached Thursday.
The suit alleges that the women were promised $1,200 a month but were only paid about $300, which was sent to family members outside the country.
