Migrant maids are getting treated like animals in SAUDI ARABIA and LEBANON, Many of these workers are getting abused, beaten, raped and even killed. Some try to commit suicide if they fail to kill themselves their horror continues, They passports get taken and they have nowhere to go for help nobody wants to help them there are nobody whos willing to help them. Most of them come from poor countries and corrupt government, they are neglected and are treated like they are nothing. Where is the human right? Where is women's right? How long is this going to last and why is the west turning a blind eye?

https://www.jpost.com/Middle-East/Trapped-by-the-system-Ethiopian-workers-in-Lebanon-see-no-freedom-542715

https://www.phnompenhpost.com/national-post-depth/cambodian-maid-abused-and-treated-slave-13-years-saudi-arabia

http://www.atimes.com/article/underage-maid-saudi-arabia-allegedly-abused-starved/

https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2010/12/trapped-in-lebanon-foreign-domestic-workers-with-no-rights-or-way-home/67479/

THIS NEEDS TO STOP

Activists said it was the first time female drivers have been referred to the specialised criminal court in Riyadh, and that their detention is the longest of female drivers in Saudi history.

Four people close to Loujain al-Hathloul, 25, and Maysa al-Amoudi, 33, said they are not being charged for defying the driving ban but for voicing opinions online. They declined to elaborate on the specific charges because of the sensitivity of the case and anonymously for fear of government reprisal.

They told the Associated Press the women’s defence lawyers had appealed against the judge’s decision to transfer their cases to the court, which was established to try terrorism cases but has also been used to try peaceful dissidents and activists. An appeals court in Dammam, the capital of Eastern Province, is expected to rule on the referral in the coming days, they said.

Human Rights Watch recently said Saudi authorities are expanding a crackdown on people who criticise the government online. It said judges and prosecutors are using a 2007 anti-cybercrime law to charge Saudi citizens for peaceful tweets and social media comments.”

At the time of their arrest, Hathloul and Amoudi had a combined Twitter following of more than 355,000. They were vocal supporters of a grassroots campaign launched last year to oppose the ban on women driving.

In 1990, 50 women were arrested for driving. They had their passports confiscated and lost their jobs. In 2011 a woman was sentenced to 10 lashes for driving, though the king overturned the sentence.

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Supporters of the driving campaign delivered a petition to the royal court this month asking King Abdullah to pardon the two women.

Organisers of the campaign, which began in October 2013, say the ban on women driving underpins wider issues that give men powerful sway over women’s lives. An activist said the ban is also part of “a wider effort to quash any chances of raising the ceiling on civil liberties” in Saudi Arabia.

Though no laws ban women from driving in Saudi Arabia, authorities do not issue them licences and ultra-conservative Saudi clerics have issued religious edicts against it. No such ban exists anywhere else in the world, even in other conservative Gulf countries.

Thursday’s brief court session was the second time the women appeared before the judge in the eastern al-Ahsa region, where they have been detained after driving to Saudi Arabia from the United Arab Emirates.

Hathloul was stopped by border guards and her passport was confiscated for more than 24 hours when she attempted to cross the border on 30 November with a UAE driver’s licence in an act of defiance.

Amoudi, a UAE-based Saudi journalist, was stopped when she went to deliver food and a blanket to Hathloul at the border, activists and relatives say. They were formally arrested on 1 December.

There has been no official Saudi comment on the arrests.

Hathloul is in a correctional facility for juveniles and Amoudi is in a prison. Relatives say they have been allowed to see them for short supervised visits.

Abulkhair was convicted in July 2014, and tried under the new anti-terrorism law, where he was convicted on a series of charges including “inciting public opinion”. Activists previously confirmed to Middle East Eye that the law was intended to target activists and to silence any form of political dissent or calls for reform.

According to the Gulf Centre for Human Rights, Saudi’s Specialised Criminal Court of Appeal - which hears terrorism cases - confirmed the verdict on Sunday.

Five years of Abulkhair’s sentence were initially suspended. In January, another court ordered him to serve the full 15 years of his sentence. The following month, he was transferred from a prison in his home city of Jeddah to one in the capital Riyadh.

“It’s believed that his refusal to recognise the legitimacy of the trial court, in addition to not giving an apology to the court, were the reasons behind his recent transfer,” said the Gulf Centre for Human Rights on its website.

Abulkhair is the founding member of the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRSA), an independent human rights organisation established in 2008. His outspokenness and activism resulted in Saudi authorities banning him from travelling outside the country since 2012.

In one of his first acts that challenged the Saudi authorities, Abulkhair along with other activists signed a reform petition in 2007 that requested the ruling government to transform from an absolute monarchy to a democratic system, where people would have the right to participate in free elections.

International human rights organisations like Amnesty have issued appeals and petitions demanding the release of Abulkhair.

“Authorities in Saudi Arabia are clearly punishing Waleed Abulkhair for his work protecting and defending human rights,” Said Boumedouha, the deputy director of the Middle East and North Africa Programme at Amnesty International said last year. “He is a prisoner of conscience and must be released immediately and unconditionally.”

Abulkhair has been on trial since 2013, where he was accused in October of that year by the Specialised Criminal Court of “breaking allegiance to and disobeying the ruler,” disrespecting the authorities,” “offending the judiciary,” “founding an unlicensed organisation,” and “inciting international organisations against the Kingdom”.

Amnesty International believes that the evidence for all of these charges were based on Abulkhair signing a petition that criticised the oppressiveness of the Saudi Arabian authorities in dealing with 16 reformists.

Abulkhair was the lawyer of a number of high profile cases that were victims of human rights violations, including his wife Samar Badawi. Samar was imprisoned for six months in 2010 under the charge of “disobedience under the Saudi Arabia male guardianship system.” She had sued her father for refusing to allow her to marry, and won her case with Abulkhair as her lawyer. The two later married.

Another well-known former client of Abulkhair is Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger who is serving a ten year sentence in prison and 1,000 lashes for insulting Islam. Badawi received the first 50 lashes on 9 January but subsequent weekly sessions have not been carried out. His case has sparked worldwide outrage.

A Norwegian parliamentarian nominated both Raif Badawi and Waleed Abulkhair for this year’s Nobel Peace Prize.
- See more at: http://www.middleeasteye.net/news/saudi-court-upholds-15-year-sentence-human-rights-lawyer-894395603#sthash.NNSYXUQN.dpuf

UPDATE: July 2014--Saudi human rights activist Walid Abu al-Khair has been sentenced to 15 years in prison on sedition charges. He's the founder of Monitor Human Rights in Saudi Arabia.

The Saudi court in Jeddah also banned al-Khair on Sunday from travelling outside of the ultraconservative kingdom for an additional 15 years and slapped him with a 200,000 riyal ($53,300) fine. His websites were also shut down.

He was convicted on charges of breaking allegiance to King Abdullah, disrespecting authorities, and creating an unauthorized association. Al-Khair has been under house arrest since April 16.

"Walid does not recognize the legitimacy of this court, refuses to accept its verdict and has no intention to appeal," al-Khair's wife, Samar Badawi, told the AFP news agency.

According to Badawi, her husband faces other charges for setting up the group Monitor Human Rights in Saudi Arabia (MHRS) without a permit. She says that al-Khair sought a permit, but received no response from the authorities. Afterward, he set up an MHRS Facebook page which has attracted thousands of followers.

The lawyer has been critical of Saudi Arabia's anti-terrorism law, which critics say is used as a pretext to stiffle political dissent. Under the law, terrorism is defined as any act that "disturbs public order, shakes the security of society, or subjects its national unity to danger, or obstructs the primary system of rule or harms the reputation of state."

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Saudi human rights lawyer and activist Waleed Abu al-Khair is currently in Riyadh’s Malaz Prison awaiting the resumption of his "criminal" trial before Saudi Arabia’s terrorism tribunal, the Specialized Criminal Court, on charges that include “breaking allegiance with the king,” “making international organizations hostile to the kingdom,” and “setting up an unlicensed organization.” A judge jailed Abu al-Khair on April 15 without allowing him to notify his family, and until now authorities have not disclosed the basis of his detention.

Saudi Arabia’s Specialized Criminal Court ordered Abu al-Khair’s detention when he attended a hearing in his case on April 15, 2014. Since his arrest the authorities have not allowed him to contact family members, who had no knowledge of his whereabouts for 24 hours. Abu al-Khair faces charges based solely on his peaceful human rights work, including “breaking allegiance with the ruler” and “making international organizations hostile to the kingdom.”

“Saudi authorities have repeatedly harassed Abu al-Khair for his human rights work, and now they’ve suddenly jailed him without letting him notify his family,” said Joe Stork, deputy Middle East director at Human Rights Watch. “The authorities should free Abu al-Khair immediately and drop the charges against him.”

On February 4, Abu al-Khair lost an appeal of a separate Jeddah Criminal Court conviction for signing statements critical of Saudi authorities, and received a prison sentence of three months. It is unclear whether his detention is connected with the Jeddah conviction. Police in Jeddah arrested Abu al-Khair on October 2, 2013 and held him for one night for hosting a weekly discussion group for reformists, but prosecutors have yet to file criminal charges in that case.

Abu al-Khair attended the fifth session of his trial before the Specialized Criminal Court on the morning of April 15, travelling from his home in Jeddah to Riyadh. A lawyer, Abu al-Khair is representing himself during the proceeding and did not bring family members or trial monitors to the hearing. After several hours, Abu al-Khair’s organization, the Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia, released a Facebook statement stating that Abu al-Khair had gone missing and could not be reached by his mobile phone, which was switched off.

On the morning of April 16, Samar Badawi, Abu al-Khair’s wife, travelled to Riyadh to search for him. She told Human Rights Watch that officials at the Specialized Criminal Court informed her that the court had ordered Abu al-Khair’s detention, and authorities had taken him to al-Ha`ir Prison south of Riyadh. Badawi travelled to the prison and confirmed with prison officials that Abu al-Khair was present, but was not allowed to speak with him. She told Human Rights Watch that neither court nor prison officials told her the basis of Abu al-Khair’s detention.

Later, Samar Badawi reported that authorities allowed him to speak to her by phone for one minute on April 17, 2014.

Abu al-Khair is known for his legal defense of other human rights activists, including Abd al-Rahman al-Shumairi, one of the so-called Jeddah reformers, a group of around a dozen men known for their public stances demanding human rights and political reform in Saudi Arabia. Authorities arrested them in February 2007, allegedly for gathering funds for terrorism.

Abu al-Khair is also the supervisor of the Facebook group “Monitor of Human Rights in Saudi Arabia,” whose website is blocked in the kingdom.

His detention comes amid an ongoing campaign to silence human rights defenders and civil society activists throughout the kingdom. In March 2013, a court sentenced Mohammed al-Qahtani and Abdullah al-Hamid, co-founders of the Saudi Civil and Political Rights Association (ACPRA), to 10- and 11-year prison terms respectively on vague charges such as “harming public order” and “setting up an unlicensed organization.” A court in the central town of Buriada convicted and sentenced to prison ACPRA members Omar al-Sa`id and Abd al-Kareem al-Khodr on similar charges in 2013. ACPRA member Fowzan al-Harbi is currently on trial.

On April 8, authorities detained independent political activist Abdulaziz al-Ghamdi, who publicly supported ACPRA and helped the families of imprisoned ACPRA members.

Saudi authorities regularly pursue charges against human rights activists based on their peaceful exercise of freedom of expression, in violation of international human rights obligations. The Arab Charter on Human Rights, which Saudi Arabia has ratified, guarantees the right to freedom of opinion and expression under article 32. Under the United Nations General Assembly’s Declaration on the Rights of Human Rights Defenders, everyone has the right, individually and in association with others, to “impart or disseminate to others views, information and knowledge on all human rights and fundamental freedoms.”

“The jailing of peaceful activists shows that Saudi Arabia has no tolerance for those even speaking about human rights and political reform,” Stork said.

BBC 30 June 2013

A court in Saudi Arabia has sentenced seven cyber activists to between five to 10 years in prison for inciting protests, mainly by using Facebook.

The men were arrested in September last year, according to Human Rights Watch (HRW), and their trial began in April.

They were charged with posting online messages to encourage protests, although they were not accused of directly taking part in demonstrations.

It is seen as the country's latest move against online political dissent.

Popular revolt

The New York-based rights group HRW said the case was heard in an anti-terrorism court.

The longest sentence of 10 years was reportedly given to an activist who set up two Facebook groups allegedly explaining the best protest techniques.

“Sending people off to years in prison for peaceful Facebook posts sends a strong message that there's no safe way to speak out in Saudi Arabia”

Joe Stork
Human Rights Watch

The rights group said the men had all admitted contributing to Facebook pages supporting the leading Shia cleric Tawfiq al-Amer, who was held in February 2011 after calling for a constitutional monarchy.

His arrest provoked anti-government rallies inspired by a wave of popular revolt in the country's Eastern Region, where much of its crude oil is sourced.

The seven men were sentenced on 24 June for "allegedly inciting protests and harming public order, largely by using Facebook", HRW said.

The court also barred them from travelling for additional periods.

Several of the defendants said they had been tortured into signing confessions, according to HRW.

The case contained two elements that the Saudi authorities are particularly sensitive about, the BBC World Service's Middle East editor Sebastian Usher reports - political criticism expressed online and protests staged by the Shia minority in the east of the country.

Several Saudi human rights campaigners have recently been imprisoned. Two women were jailed earlier in June for allegedly inciting a woman against her husband, after they tried to help a Canadian who had complained of abuse by her Saudi husband.

HRW urged European Union officials to condemn the latest convictions ahead of a meeting with Gulf leaders on Sunday.

"Sending people off to years in prison for peaceful Facebook posts sends a strong message that there's no safe way to speak out in Saudi Arabia, even on online social networks," Joe Stork, HRW's deputy Middle East director, said.

Source : BBC
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-23119656
_ _ _ _ _ _

Saudi Arabia: 7 Convicted for Facebook Postings About Protests

HRW JUNE 30, 2013

Men Convicted for Inciting Protests through Facebook

* Saleh bin Abd al-Muhsin bin Ali al-Shaya`:
5 years in prison and 5-year travel ban;

* Hussein bin Salman bin Yasin al-Sulayman:
7 years and 7-year travel ban;

* Mohammed bin Ahmed bin Abd a-Hadi al-Khalifa:
8 years and 8-year travel ban;

* Mostafa bin Haji bin Hussein al-Mujahad:
6 years and 6-year travel ban;

* Hussein bin Ali bin bin Mohammed al-Bathir:
5 years and 5-year travel ban;

* Ali bin Hassan bin Ali al-Hadlaq:
7 years and 7-year travel ban;

* Abd al-Hamid bin Abd al-Muhsin bin Abdullah al-Amer: 10 years and 10-year travel ban.

Source : HRW
http://www.hrw.org/news/2013/06/29/saudi-arabia-7-convicted-facebook-postings-about-protests

Hamza Kashgari, a 23-year-old columnist, sparked outrage in the oil-rich kingdom with comments posted on the Prophet's birthday a week ago that led some Islamic clerics to call for him to face the death penalty.

Kashgari fled the country, but was arrested by police in majority-Muslim Malaysia on Thursday as he transited through Kuala Lumpur international airport.

"The Saudi writer was repatriated to his home country this Sunday morning," a police spokesman told Reuters. "This is an internal Saudi matter that we cannot comment on."

Malaysia has a close affinity with many Middle Eastern nations through their shared religion. The Southeast Asian nation is also a U.S. ally and a leading global voice for moderate Islam, meaning that the decision to extradite Kashgari is certain to be controversial.

"Saudi clerics have already made up their mind that Kashgari is an apostate who must face punishment," Christoph Wilcke, senior Middle East researcher at Human Rights Watch, said in a statement on Friday.

"The Malaysian government should not be complicit in sealing Kashgari's fate by sending him back."

Kashgari's lawyer in Malaysia, Mohammad Noor, told Reuters by telephone that he had obtained a court order to prevent the deportation, but had not been allowed to see his client.

"If the government of Malaysia deports him to Saudi Arabia, disrespecting the court order, this is clearly contempt of court, unlawful and unacceptable," he said.

The Star newspaper quoted Home Minister Hishammuddin Hussein as saying that Kashgari had been repatriated and that the charges against him would be decided by Saudi authorities.

"Malaysia has a longstanding arrangement by which individuals wanted by one country are extradited when detained by the other," he was quoted as saying.

Blasphemy is a crime punishable by execution under Saudi Arabia's strict interpretation of Islamic sharia law. It is not a capital crime in Malaysia.

Reuters could not verify Kashgari's comments because he later deleted them, but media reported that one of them reflected his contradictory views of the Prophet - that he both loved and hated him.

Kashgari later said in an interview that he was being made a "scapegoat for a larger conflict" over his comments.

"Police arrested her at 3am this morning," said Maha Taher, another activist who launched her own campaign for women driving four months ago to spread awareness of the issue.

Women are not allowed to drive and must have written approval from a designated guardian - a father, husband, brother or son - to leave the country, work or travel abroad.

"When the police stopped her they told her she violated the 'norms'. There is no law that says women can't drive in Saudi Arabia and this arrest is unjust. She is a role model for a lot of people and the arrest will provoke her supporters. Now more women want to drive," Taher said.

Also most of the Asian migrant workers are forced to work long hours without pay and very low payscale compared to other countries.

Gulf cooperation council have declare the right to protect the right of Asian workers welfare and security they have entitled but is still yet to come in action in Saudi Arabia.

If anyone wants to know the facts then look at http://tinyurl.com/3xbgwd for further details about how Asian workers are treated in Saudi Arabia.

P. Mijhar

They want to stay together and live a descent and Islamic marriage.

Because her family do not agree that they be together for the only reason that they are from different tribes the Judicial system in Saudi Arabia is asking and forcing this couple to divorce without take in consideration the lives of 2 beautiful kids that need to be raise with both parents to become better citizens in our society.

A Saudi teenage girl has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in prison after she was the victim of gang rape.

A 19-year-old girl from Qatif, who was reportedly gang raped 14 times a year-and-a-half ago, has been sentenced to 200 lashes and six months in jail. She was charged for being in the car of an unrelated man, shortly after which they both were reportedly abducted by a group of seven men and were gang raped.

All of the perpetrators were sentenced to between two and nine years in prison with lashes. The girl and the man she was meeting were initially sentenced to 90 lashes each by the Qatif General Court, however, the sentence of the girl was increased after she appealed against her sentence but lost the hearing in the Higher Court of Justice. According to a quote by an official in Arab News, the judges increased her sentence because she had used the influence of the media to put pressure on the judiciary. The sentence of the rapists was also doubled.

The victim’s lawyer, Abdel Rahman Al-Lahem, stated, “My client is the victim of this abhorrent crime. I believe her sentence contravenes the Islamic Sharia law and violates the pertinent international conventions.” Mr Al-Lahem also faced disciplinary action after he spoke to the media about the original sentence. His license to practice law was recently revoked by the Qatif General Court. According to Arab News, his license was suspended because the court alleges that he raised his voice at the judge, which the lawyer denies. He was not allowed to be present in the second hearing of the case, when the victim was handed down the harsher sentence.

The victim’s legal guardian, her husband, is scheduled to receive a copy of the verdict on Saturday, 24 November 2007 from the Qatif General Court, after which the defendant will have 30 days to file an appeal with the Court of Cassation. She has decided to appeal against the verdict but faces an increase in the sentence if her appeal is rejected.