Feyzeh Diab and Mahmoud Zahran Assault Their Worker Temitope
Mahmoud tried to buy sexual services from Temitope. After she refused, things turned nasty culminating in bloody blows to her face.
Ariwolo Olamide Temitope
Mahmoud Zahran & Feyzeh Diab
THE VIDEO
See Ariwolo Olamide Temitope after being physically assault by Mahmoud Zahran and Feyzeh Diab
THE STORY
On 26 April, 2020 a leader of the Nigerian community in Lebanon contacted This Is Lebanon seeking assistance for Ariwolo Olamide Temitope, 31, who had been abused by her employers, Mr Mahmoud Zahran and Mrs Feyzeh Diab. Together with the community leader This Is Lebanon coordinated her escape.
Following Al Jazeera’s publishing of the story, Zahran and Diab have now been referred for a criminal investigation. According to the Al Jazeera report, Diab was called in for interrogation at the Labour Ministry on 28 April and was subsequently blacklisted - meaning she will not be able to hire any more domestic workers. In Lebanon, the worst punishment meted out to abusive employers is to be blacklisted, a punishment which is easily worked around by hiring under a different family name.
Following is an extract of the Al Jazeera story:
Lebanon employer investigated over Nigeria domestic worker abuse
On the night of April 25, Temitope said Diab overheard her speaking on a mobile phone and accused her of stealing it. She said Zahran then hit her in the mouth, causing serious bleeding.
Temitope said she had been calling her family in Nigeria to wish her son a happy birthday - he had turned six years old two days before.
Reeling from the blow to her mouth, Temitope took a video of herself, revealing the scale of the injury.
Diab told Al Jazeera her husband "pushed" Temitope "out of self-defence" after she attacked them.
She claimed Temitope had stolen the phone and said she had in the past "pulled a knife on me" and "hit me".
"That is a big, big lie. There is nothing of the sort," Temitope said of the claims. "If I had beaten them before, why would they leave me in the house working with them?"
The day after the alleged assault, Temitope said she was locked in an empty room on the second floor of the same building her employers live in.
Fearing what they might do to her next, she contacted a Nigerian activist in Lebanon.
He agreed to help her, and so she scaled down the outside of the building via the balcony, leaving behind possessions and her passport, and made her way to a safe location.
The day 'their attitude changed'
Temitope said the employers had initially treated her well. When her phone broke following her arrival in Lebanon on October 1, 2019, they had provided one for her, allowing her to contact her husband and two children, aged 6 and 11, back home.
But then, she said, Zahran made sexual advances and even offered to pay her $100 a month in exchange. Her entire month's salary was just $200.
"I shouted at him. I'm not going to lie - I spoke to him roughly to say that I'm here to work, so I can have a good life, not for sex," Temitope said. "Since then, their attitude changed."
Diab denied that her husband had made sexual advances, saying he was an old man who spent much of his time away working on a farm.
Al Jazeera was unable to contact Zahran directly. Diab said he was away, without elaborating.
After she turned down the advance, Temitope said the phone she was provided was taken away, and she secretly bought herself a new one and used it only at night.
Temitope said she was not allowed to rest, being made to work seven days a week.
Despite her experience of abuse in Lebanon, Temitope said a lack of opportunity back home was pushing her to stay.
"I want to make it, I can't go back to Nigeria empty-handed," she said. "And I want justice."
Update on May 26, 2020: Temitope is in Prison
Temitope was prevented from boarding an evacuation flight to Nigeria on the 24th May. Her employer, Mahmoud Zahran, who sexually and physically abused her, has brought trumped up charges of attempted murder against her. She is languishing in some Lebanese prison. This is what happens to any domestic worker who dares speak out about abuse. And this despite the Ministry of Labour's declaration that her abusive employers had been blacklisted. Shameful.
Update on July 9, 2020: Lebanese ambassador apologizes for Temitope's treatment
A Nigerian lawmaker "announced that the Lebanese government had agreed to release Ms. Temitope and other Nigerians held in the country. Ms. Arowolo was in detention in the country, for alleged attempted murder of her master and on allegations of theft. “I am happy to inform Nigerians that Temitope will be home before the end of the week, and so many other Nigerians who want to come home from Lebanon the opportunity will be provided for them to come home.
Meet The Abusers
The nice was just a facade.
"I shouted at him. I'm not going to lie - I spoke to him roughly to say that I'm here to work, so I can have a good life, not for sex," Temitope said. "Since then, their attitude changed."
Mahmoud Zahran
Preys on his domestic worker for sexual services and turns nasty when she doesn't submit.
Feyzeh Diab
True love: covering for your predatorial husband. An enabler and abuser.
IN THE NEWS
Employer banned from hiring domestic workers and referred for criminal investigation after a tip from Al Jazeera.
Ariwolo Temitope was at the airport about to board a flight home when her boss intervened, activists say
Lebanon Worker Under Investigation For Attempting To Sell Nigerian Worker
Beirut, Lebanon – The employer of a Nigerian domestic worker accused of abuse was blacklisted and referred for a felony investigation after Al Jazeera uncovered the case.
MORE IN THE NEWS
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COMMENTS
القصة
في 26 نيسان 2020، اتصل أحد قيادات الجالية النيجيرية في لبنان بجمعية "هذا لبنان" لطلب مساعدة "أريوولو أولاميد تيميتوبي"، 31 عاماً، التي تعرضت للتعنيف الجسدي من قبل أصحاب العمل، السيد محمود زهران والسيدة فايزة دياب. و قد نسق "هذا لبنان" هروبها جنباً إلى جنب مع زعيم الجالية.
بعد نشر قناة الجزيرة للقصة التي يمكنك قراءتها هنا، تمت إحالة زهران ودياب الآن إلى التحقيق الجنائي. ووفقاً لتقرير الجزيرة، فقد تم استدعاء دياب للاستجواب في وزارة العمل في 28 نيسان، وتم إدراجها بعد ذلك في القائمة السوداء - مما يعني أنها لن تتمكن من توظيف المزيد من عاملات المنازل لديها. إن أسوأ عقوبة تطبَّق في لبنان على أصحاب العمل البُغاة هي إدراجهم في القائمة السوداء، وهي عقوبة يمكن حلها بسهولة من خلال التوظيف تحت اسم عائلة مختلف.
و فيما يلي مقتطف من قصة "الجزيرة:"
يجري التحقيق مع صاحبة عمل لبنانية جرّاء تعنيفها لعاملة منزل نيجيرية
قالت تيميتوبي، في ليلة 25 نيسان، أن دياب سمعتها تتحدث على هاتف محمول واتهمتها بسرقته. و قالت أن زهران ضربها على فمها، مما تسبب في نزيف حاد.
قالت تيميتوبي إنها كانت تتصل بأسرتها في نيجيريا لتتمنى لابنها عيد ميلاد سعيد - كان قد بلغ من العمر ست سنوات قبل يومين.
صورت تيميتوبي نفسها بمقطع فيديو بعد أن ترنّحت بسبب الضربة على فمها، وكشفت عن حجم الإصابة.
وقالت دياب للجزيرة أن زوجها "دفع" تيميتوبي "دفاعاً عن النفس" بعد أن تهجمت عليهما.
وزعمت أن تيميتوبي سرقت الهاتف و أنها في وقت سابق "سحبت سكيناً في وجهي" و "ضربتني".
قالت تيميتوبي عن هذه المزاعم: "إنها كذبة كبيرة كبيرة. لا يوجد شيء من هذا القبيل. لو كنت قد ضربتهم من قبل، فلماذا تركوني أعمل عندهم في المنزل؟"
و في اليوم التالي للاعتداء المزعوم، قالت تيميتوبي أنه تم حبسها في غرفة فارغة في الطابق الثاني من المبنى نفسه الذي يعيش فيه أصحاب عملها.
و خوفاً مما قد يفعلونه بها بعد ذلك، اتصلت بناشط نيجيري في لبنان.
وافق على مساعدتها. لذا تسلقت خارج المبنى عبر الشرفة و نزلت، تاركة وراءها أغراضها وجواز سفرها، وشقت طريقها إلى مكان آمن.
اليوم الذي "تغير فيه موقفهما"
قالت تيميتوبي أن أصحاب العمل كانا يعاملانها بشكل جيد في البداية. عندما تحطم هاتفها بعد وصولها إلى لبنان في 1 تشرين الأول 2019، أمّنوا لها هاتفاً، مما سمح لها بالاتصال بزوجها وطفليها في الوطن، اللذين تتراوح أعمارهما بين 6 و 11 عاماً.
ولكن بعد ذلك، قالت تيميتوبي أن زهران تحرش بها جنسياً، بل وعرض عليها 100 دولار شهرياً مقابل ذلك. و كان كامل راتبها الشهري 200 دولار فقط.
قالت تيميتوبي: "صرختُ في وجهه. لن أكذب - كلمته بقساوة قائلة له إنني هنا للعمل، كي أحصل على حياة كريمة، وليس لممارسة الجنس. و منذ ذلك الحين، تغير موقفهما."
أنكرت دياب قيام زوجها بتحرش جنسي، قائلةً بأنه رجل كبير السن و يقضي معظم أوقاته بعيداً يعمل في مزرعة.
لم تتمكن قناة الجزيرة من الاتصال بزهران بشكل مباشر. قالت دياب إنه غير موجود دون أن تخوض في أية تفاصيل.
بعد أن رفضت تحرشاته، قالت تيميتوبي أنه تم إسترداد الهاتف الذي أعطوها إياه، لكنها اشترت لنفسها هاتفاً جديداً في السر و كانت تستخدمه في الليل فقط.
قالت تيميتوبي أنها لم يكن يُسمح لها بالراحة، و كانت مُجبَرة على العمل سبعة أيام في الأسبوع.
على الرغم من التعنيف الذي تعرضت له في لبنان، قالت تيميتوبي أن قلة الفرص في وطنها هي التي دفعتها للبقاء.
و قالت: "أريد أن أكسب رزقي، لا يمكنني العودة إلى نيجيريا خالية الوفاض. وأريد العدالة".