Indonesia investigates killing and mistreatement of maids in Saudi Arabia

 Indonesian protest against Saudi mistreatment of domestic workers. (AFP) Under: Yudhoyono and poster of bruised face of Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapha (AFP)

Update 20-11: The Indonesian president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said there are reports that an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia has been killed and her employer has thrown her body out on the street. Yudhoyono said a team had been sent to the Saudi town of Abha to investigate reports of the murder of 36-year-old Kikim Komalasari.

The news comes days after Yudhoyono (photo), demanded justice for what he described as the "extraordinary torture" of an Indonesian maid in Saudi Arabia in hospital with wounds allegedly inflicted by her employer.
Sumiati Binti Salan Mustapa, 23, is in a stable condition in a hospital in Medina, where she has been receiving treatment since 8 November for wounds including gashes to her lips and face caused by scissors. Yudhoyono said he would dispatch a team to Saudi Arabia to follow up on the case, a day after the Indonesian government summoned the Saudi ambassador to express its concern.

Sumiati, who like thousands of other Indonesian and Malaysian workers went to Saudi Arabia four months ago, was allegedly cut with scissors and burned with an iron by her employers, in the latest in a string of abuse cases against foreign dmomestic workers in the Middle East.
An Indonesian consulate official in Saudi Arabia was quoted in the Jakarta Globe newspaper as saying the jealous wife of Ms Sumiati's employer was suspected of inflicting the injuries. "From the picture on her passport Sumiati is pretty. The wife tortured her because of jealousy. The victim was not treated in an Islamic way," the official, Didi Whayudi was quoted as saying.