Kenyan migrant workers in Lebanon demanding repatriation wait outside the Kenyan consulate in Beirut on Aug. 20, 2020. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT— The defendant in the first criminal case filed in Lebanon alleging the enslavement of a migrant domestic worker attended her court hearing on Thursday without a lawyer. She said she had not received a copy of the complaint against her, further delaying the progression of the case against her. The next session will be held on March 31.
Here’s what we know:
• Last October, the first criminal case filed in Lebanon alleging slavery and slave trading of a migrant domestic worker by a Lebanese kafala employer was postponed when the defendants failed to appear in court.
• On Thursday, the defendant appeared at the court without hiring a lawyer prior to the session on the basis that she wasn’t communicated a copy of the complaint, which she then received. The defendant was given a period of one month to choose a lawyer, according to lawyer for the plaintiff George Tahhan.
• Tahhan added that the objection of the defendant and her request for additional time to hire a lawyer are nothing more than attempts to delay the case.
• The case was filed by Legal Action Worldwide (LAW) on behalf of a 40-year-old Ethiopian worker identified as M.H., against her former employer.
• According to a press release from LAW, their lawyer requested an arrest warrant for ‘Matta Agency’ the recruiter accused of slave trading, as they failed to attend the hearing. “The judge was unable to issue an arrest warrant as the identity of this defendant is unknown,” the press release stated.
• The worker was allegedly imprisoned at home where she worked for around eight years, during which she was not paid her salary. The kafala system has often been described as abusive by rights groups and workers.