Bayram opened the investigation after watching the video, a statement from the Labor Ministry says. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — An individual seen dragging a migrant worker along the ground by her hair in a video circulated on social media Wednesday has been arrested, the Internal Security Forces announced in a statement Wednesday night.
Here’s what we know:
• The video circulated on social media shows a migrant domestic worker screaming while being dragged on the ground as an individual pulls her by the hair. The footage was reportedly recorded in the Jourat al-Ballout area of Metn.
• “We have listened to the offender’s testimony … and he was arrested,” the ISF statement said, adding that the migrant worker’s testimony is still being taken.
• Labor Minister Moustafa Bayram had announced in a statement earlier that he had opened an investigation into the circumstances surrounding the video.
• “After watching the video that shows a savage offense against a migrant domestic worker, the minister took initiative and opened a special investigation,” the statement reads.
• The minister added that he will not “be easy in dealing with an offense to any person, including migrant domestic workers, and will maintain their dignity and rights. The inspection unit in the ministry was assigned to file a quick and detailed report and is expected to take a decision to place the offender’s name on the ministry’s black list.”
• Reacting to the video footage, Human Rights Watch researcher Aya Majzoub wrote in a tweet, “Lebanon’s restrictive and exploitative kafala system traps tens of thousands of migrant domestic workers in highly abusive conditions amounting, at worst, to modern slavery, and allows gruesome scenes like these to happen. It is sickening.”