The Ministry of Manpower and Immigration has issued a blacklist of Saudi companies accused of abusing foreign workers, Reem Leila reports Following the sentencing of two Egyptian doctors in Saudi Arabia to prison terms of 15 and 20 years and 1,500 lashes each the Ministry of Manpower and Immigration (MMI) announced on 12 November that Egyptian doctors were henceforth banned from signing contracts with Saudi private hospitals. The decree came into effect last Thursday. It does not affect Egyptian doctors already working in Saudi Arabia. The following day, on 13 November, the MMI published a blacklist of 26 firms in Saudi Arabia accused of abusing the rights of foreign employees. "The MMI has issued a list of businesses and private companies in Saudi Arabia with whom Egyptians are no longer allowed to deal," said Ibrahim Ali, press spokesman at the MMI. The companies, he charged, were "deliberately mistreating Egyptians", and more firms may be added later. "The ministerial decree aims at pressuring Saudi officials to hold a new trial for the doctors. The move is intended to register the shock of the Egyptian public." In a press statement Minister of Manpower and Immigration Aisha Abdel-Hadi said the decision was taken in response to repeated complaints. Hospitals, hair salons and a host of service companies are included in the list. The decision does not mean that Egyptians already employed by the companies will lose their jobs. The case of the Egyptian doctors has highlighted the treatment meted out to Egyptian workers in Gulf countries. The ban appears to be an attempt by the government to save face after growing criticism of the failure of officials to protect expatriate workers. Opposition MP Mustafa Bakri sees the government's decision as a ploy to contain public outrage. He points out that the MMI took the step only after diplomatic contacts failed to have the sentences reviewed. Meanwhile, the Saudi Embassy in Cairo issued a press release on 12 November stating that Shawki Abd Rabu, one of the defendants, is facing five charges, including obtaining and supplying 1,370 narcotic ampoules, and the sexual harassment, including rape, of female patients. Raouf Amin El-Arabi, the second doctor, is charged with importing and circulating drugs, and of leaving one patient, a Saudi princess, drug dependent. Saudi officials described the sentences as "lenient given the nature of the crimes". According to one Saudi official who spoke to Al-Ahram Weekly on condition of anonymity, the most severe lashing assigned by a modern Saudi Arabian judge took place in 2007, when two men received 7,000 strokes each after being found guilty of sodomy. "Egyptian criminal law 122/1989 stipulates that whoever smuggles, imports, exports, buys, sells, obtains, transports or delivers drugs faces the death sentence or life in prison and a fine of not less than LE100,000 and not more than LE500,000. In comparison, the Saudi court handed down jail sentences and whipping," he said. The Egyptian Union of Human Rights (EUHR) criticised Saudi claims. Lawyer Naguib Gabriel, head of EUHR, points out that the charges did not include drug trafficking or mention narcotics but concerned pain killers and prescription drugs. Gabriel accused the Saudi Embassy of tossing out false allegations in an attempt to muddy the waters rather than open a new investigation into the charges against the two doctors. Egyptian doctors gathered on 13 November, along with activists and members of the families of both doctors, at the headquarters of the Doctors Syndicate in Cairo to protest against the sentences. Hamdi El-Sayed, chairman of the Doctors Syndicate, estimates the number of Egyptian doctors working in Saudi Arabia at 20,000. "Low wages at home have driven many Egyptian physicians to Gulf countries in search of better salaries. We have been struggling for more than a year to raise doctors' wages though the increases we have secured are tiny, still forcing Egyptian doctors to travel." "This whipping is a humiliation to all Egyptian citizens and not only Egyptian doctors. We demand an open trial for both in which they will be allowed to defend themselves," said El-Sayed. El-Arabi was sentenced to 15 years in prison and Abd Rabu to 20 years. Both face regular whipping, until 1,500 lashes have been administered over a 10-month period, a process that, says, El-Sayed, could result in the death of both.
