Kuwaiti police have detained a woman for filming her Ethiopian maid falling from the seventh floor without trying to rescue her.
A Kuwaiti woman was detained by police on Thursday after she posted a Snapchat video of her housemaid falling from her seventh-floor window.
The woman is currently being investigated by Kuwait’s public prosecutor after the video went viral on Arabic social media, arousing public anger across the world.
A 12-second video of the encounter shows the maid screaming “hold me, hold me” in a terrified voice while her employer stands mere inches from her hand – calmly recording the whole scene. She is even heard telling the hanging maid: “Oh, crazy, come back.”
The Ethiopian housemaid survived the fall with a broken arm after she fell onto a metal awning beneath. She was later rushed to Mubarak hospital where she is currently being treated for her injuries.
The maid had attempted to escape via the window in the Sabah al-Salem neighbourhood after her employer locked her in the house, a member of the prosecutor’s office told Kuwait’s al-Qabas News.
The housemaid is reported to have been imprisoned in the home for at least two days after she gave notice to end her employment.
The prosecutor is currently investigating whether the maid’s employer broke the law by not helping her escape the fall.
The Kuwait Society for Human Rights on Friday called on the authorities to investigate the case and refer it to court, saying the employer had a duty of rescue.
The organisation added that the emirate’s penal code decreed that anyone who deliberately refrained from coming to the aid of a person in danger was liable to be sentenced to up to three months in prison.
An employer is also required to provide adequate living arrangements for their domestic help by under chapter two of Kuwait’s Act 68, 2015.
There are more than 600,000 domestic helpers in Kuwait – mainly from South Asia – with large numbers of complaints made every year of abuse, mistreatment and non-payment of wages.
See the video below,