FOREIGN workers are effectively being held captive in Bahrain by rogue employers who refuse to allow them to go home, activists claimed yesterday.
Many people are literally stranded here against their will because employers simply won't hand over their passports even though they no longer work for them, according to the Migrant Workers Protection Society (MWPS).
However, it accused police of failing to take action and claimed officers were indifferent to the suffering of such people - saying they simply returned them to work for allegedly abusive bosses.
The organisation yesterday appealed to the government to intervene, arguing the lives of countless people were being ruined as a result. A new rule did come into effect in August stating foreign workers no longer needed permission to change jobs, but it appears to have had little affect.
The problem has come to light because two Sri Lankan citizens are effectively stranded in Bahrain, since they are unable to get their passports back. Their only option is to return to work for their original employer, but MWPS action committee head Marietta Dias said that was often impractical.
"These people do not want to work for their sponsors anymore, but the way things work in Bahrain it seems they cannot make that choice for themselves," she said.
"If somebody does not want to work for an employer anymore then the person should just be able to leave."
Ms Dias stressed the society was adhering to government rules on how it handles cases of abused domestic workers, but claimed police were simply not co-operating.
"We are doing everything by the book, as per the rules of the government," she explained.
"We have been told that if somebody comes to us with a complaint against their sponsor then we cannot go straight to that sponsor ourselves, we must go to the police so that is what we have been doing.
"It is then up to the police to contact the sponsor and take back the passport and whatever other documents so then we can give them a flight to go home.
"We are doing everything as we should, but we find that the police are not. What is the idea of doing our work if this is the case?"
Ms Dias was speaking during a Press conference yesterday at the MWPS office in Adliya, during which she highlighted the cases of Sri Lankans Yamila Randika and Mohammed Siddeek - who are both living illegally in Bahrain.
After working for 11 months as a housemaid for a Bahraini family, Ms Randika fled to the MWPS shelter claiming she had been physically abused by her sponsor.
MWPS officials took the woman to Muharraq Police Station, but when she arrived there she was arrested.
According to Ms Dias, police were supposed to contact the employer to retrieve her passport, but instead they returned her to the same sponsor. "It is clear that this woman did not want to return to work for these people because of the treatment she had received, but the police just sent her back," she said.
After allegedly enduring another week of abuse at the hands of her sponsor, Ms Randika fled the family for a second time last week and is now back in the care of the MWPS.
However, she is now in a 'catch 22' situation. "I'm sorry to say this, but at the moment there is nothing we can do for her," lamented Ms Dias.
"We will have to bring her back to the police station, probably on Sunday, as it is the rule and then we don't know what will happen to her.
"It is not as if we are asking for money or compensation in this case, we just want to get her passport or whatever documents and send her home."
The second case involves Mohammed Siddeek, who came to Bahrain in January to work as a driver, but ended up looking after his sponsor's five snakes - including two pythons. Speaking yesterday through a translator, Mr Siddeek admitted he was frightened by the snakes and had no desire to carry on.
He ran away in May and went to his employment agency to lodge a complaint, but while staying at the agency he was arrested and imprisoned.
Having allegedly been told nothing about why he was being arrested, Mr Siddeek eventually discovered he had been accused of touching his sponsor's wife - a claim he strongly denied. Mr Siddeek remained behind bars until earlier this month, when he was suddenly told he was free to go.
"He has been found not guilty of any charges, but there is no record to prove that," claimed Ms Dias.
"We had to pay for a lawyer to come with us to sign him out of prison, but do not have any piece of paper to say the case is closed.
"If this was a case in the UK or somewhere else then surely there would be some kind of official verdict or document."
l Director of Police Media at the Interior Ministry Lt Col Mohammed Bin Daina responds: MWPS should follow proper channels in dealing with their cases as the Interior Ministry is approachable through its Complaints and Human Rights Directorate, which formed in 2007.
Allegations of bias treatment to migrant workers by police are taken seriously by the directorate.
The society should follow the approach of the Bahrain Human Rights Society as many cases have been solved through co-ordination.
thanratty@gdn.com.bh
