Jordan agency dismisses report of maid abuse

A Jordanian recruitment agency has dismissed a report alleging abuse of a Sri Lankan domestic worker.

The New York-based Human Rights Watch said last week that a Jordanian employer forced a Sri Lankan housemaid to swallow nails, calling it an example of “wider abuse” of domestics in the Arab world.

But Deeb al-Hafnawi, of the Al-Hafnawi Agency who recruited the woman, said Monday that he has two signed letters from the woman saying she deliberately swallowed six nails in bananas to force her employer to send her home.

Al-Hafnawi said the maid, who is now in Sri Lanka, initially used glass cleaner on her face during her first week to flee. When that failed, she took more extreme action.

He said the women’s excuse was that she missed her husband, AP reports.