Dubai couple who maltreated Pinay gets 3 years in jail

DUBAI (AFP) — A couple who tried to treat a Filipina maid like an inmate of Iraq’s infamous Abu Ghraib prison have been jailed in Dubai for three years for torture and sexual harassment, a newspaper reported Wednesday.

The victim, Faija Salamat, 21, said she was threatened with rape and tortured with hot coal and ice cubes by her Iraqi employer and his Kuwaiti girlfriend, according to the English-language paper 7Days.

"They were drinking together when my madam just slapped me. He then started touching me intimately. He held my hands while madam undressed me," she was quoted as saying following the court verdict.

"Madam stubbed lit cigarettes onto me near my private parts," said Salamat recounting her July ordeal. The 29-year-old man was screaming, "I will rape you," as his partner laughed.

Salamat said she was covered in ice cubes and cold water and made to sleep on the floor in a room for three days before eventually managing to flee, the daily added.

Her employer had bragged to friends he treated her like a prisoner of Baghdad’s Abu Ghraib, at the center of a 2004 scandal after photographs were leaked showing US guards mistreating and sexually humiliating prisoners.

A Dubai court found the couple guilty of sexual harassment, battery and illegal detention, and they are to be deported after having served their sentences.

In November, Prime Minister and ruler of Dubai Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid al-Maktoum ordered new measures to stamp out abuse against foreign workers in the oil-rich federation.

Dubai has been in the spotlight over abusive labor practices following riots in March and April by thousands of Asian construction workers to demand better pay and living conditions.