A Sri Lankan maid working in Jordan has been forced to swallow nails, and this is not the first torture case of this nature but the third, authorities say!

D M Chandima a housemaid told the Sri Lankan diplomatic mission in Amman that her employer forced her to swallow six nails, an official at the Foreign Employment Bureau of Sri Lanka said on Sunday. They are currently awaiting medical evidence.

Lechchami, 38 another Sri Lankan housemaid who had been working in Kuwait accused her employer of driving 14 wire nails into her body as punishment for failing in her work.

The doctor said the woman had told surgeons that her Kuwaiti employers drove the nails, some as long as 3.5cm into her hands and left leg when she asked for her salary after working for six months.

And.. in August, another housemaid complained her Saudi employer drove 24 nails into her arms, legs and forehead as punishment, most of which were removed by surgeons in Sri Lanka.

About 1.8 million Sri Lankans are employed abroad, of whom 70 per cent are women. Most work as housemaids in the Middle East and something has to be done about these issues and fast if these women are to be protected.