Amar Singh (not his real name), a Punjabi work migrant from Faridkot travelled to Saudi Arabia to work as a truck driver just over four years ago.
During the course of his employment, Amar Singh sustained a serious injury to his right arm which resulted in the insertion of a metal plate in his injured arm. This accident at work rendered Mr Amar Singh unable to work as a truck driver.
Following the accident, Mr Amar Singh’s employer withheld his salary and forced him to work as an unpaid goat herder. He is desperate to return to his wife and young children in India. His Saudi ’employers’ are refusing to return his Indian passport so that he can make arrangements to return to India. Mr Singh’s fear is that if he leaves the control of his ’employer’, his employer will lodge false criminal complaints against him with the local Police which may result in his arrest and subsequent imprisonment. It is common for example, for some employers in Saudi Arabia and employers in other Gulf States to register falsified complaints against work migrants particularly from SE Asia, as an action of revenge against them for terminating their contract of employment. We at Justice Upheld are helping to repatriate Mr Singh back to India.
We understand that a number of skilled Indian and SE Asian migrants workers despite being originally employed to work in semi and skilled roles in Saudi Arabia and in the other Gulf States are being forced to herd animals.
Further reading:
Punjabi driver forced to herd camels in Saudi Arabia
