Migrant domestic workers protest in Beirut over their work and living conditions in May 2019. (Credit: AFP)
BEIRUT – The third court hearing in the landmark criminal case brought by a former migrant domestic worker against her former employer on allegations of slavery and slave trade took place Thursday before Investigative Judge Rania Yahfoufi at the Baabda Justice Palace. The case is filed by MH, with the help of Legal Action Worldwide, a non-profit organization made up of human rights lawyers and jurists.
Here’s what we know:
• MH’s former employer and first defendant attended the court hearing with her lawyer and waived their right to submit admissibility arguments, a press release issued by LAW reported Thursday. According to the press release, the lawyer also requested that Judge Yahfoufi start the questioning during Thursday’s hearing, but the judge dismissed the request.
• LAW adds that its lawyers submitted travel ban requests against both defendants in the case, which the Yahfoufi will now review.
• According to LAW, the judge adjourned the court hearing until May 12, when the questioning of defendants will begin.
• MH, a 40-year-old Ethiopian woman, arrived in Lebanon in 2011 where she alleges she was enslaved for more than seven years. MH charges that her employer forced her to work 15 hours per day, seven days a week but only paid her for 13 months of service. The case also claims that MH was locked in an apartment day and night, and subjected to insults and threats. MH returned to Ethiopia in 2019 after public pressure was exerted on the former employer.