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Filipino maid 'raped by employer' in Saudi Arabia dies in hospital

Woman reportedly pointed at employer when asked who abused her

Wednesday 24 August 2016 13:28 BST

Imra Edloy, 35, was rushed to King Salman Hospital in Riyadh with severe injuries suspected to be from sexual assault (iStock)

A Filipino maid has reportedly died in Saudi Arabia after seeing her alleged rapist in the hospital where she was confined.

Imra Edloy, 35, was rushed to King Salman Hospital in Riyadh on 13 August with severe injuries suspected to be from sexual assault. She fell into a coma soon after arriving in the hospital.

While she was unable to identify her attacker, before falling unconscious she pointed at her employer when asked who abused her, ABS CBN News reports.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

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1/1010 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

In March 2015, Yemen’s Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

Members of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as “inciting people against the authorities”.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia’s clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his ‘confession’. At Dawood’s trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer.

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10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses

Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident.

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"The DFA will continue to do whatever is necessary for Ms Irma Edloy and her family," Charles Jose, a spokesman for the Philippines' Department of Foreign Affairs, told GMA News Online, "including the repatriation of her remains and legal action against the perpetrator, especially if the legal report indicates that Ms Edloy passed due to her wounds from any maltreatment."

Ms Edloy suffered cardiac arrest several times and was revived, but died on 18 August. Nurses reportedly said her underwear was covered with blood when she was first treated in hospital.

Saudi authorities are currently investigating whether she was raped.

Earlier this year, a 25-year-old Indian woman was allegedly tortured to death by her employers in Saudi Arabia.

The family of Asima Khatoon, who went to the Gulf state to work as a house maid, claimed she had previously complained of being mentally and physically harassed before she died.

In a phone call made several weeks before her death, she reportedly asked her parents to rescue her.

Last year, a Saudi diplomat was accused of repeatedly raping two of his maids he held captive in his luxury apartment new New Delhi, India.

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