"Mr. President, we, the Egyptians working in Saudi Arabia, are extremely mistreated. Animals are treated better than us. We are not asking for more than a decent life and to restore our rights that have been seized as if we are slaves."
This is the text of the third complaint that has been sent by two Egyptians, who were working in Saudi Arabia, to President Mubarak after they have been mandatory deported.
They have filed the complaint after they resorted to the Egyptian embassy in Riyadh, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Manpower, the National Council for Human Rights, and finally the Presidency.
The story started when Hussein Mohamed Hassan, one of the complainants, was injured in 2002 while he was at work. His left thigh was broken, so he became unable to work as a lorry driver. Therefore, he asked Fakieh Poultry Farm Company, the company he was working for, to give him his dues to return to Cairo.
He was stunned by the company’s officials calling on him to pay debts he knows nothing about. The company has not provided any documents showing the value or the reason for these debts.
Therefore, Hassan filed a complaint to the Labor Office, which appointed a legal accountant to audit the accounts between him and the company. The accountant’s report said that Hassan provided all the documents required, but the company did not.
Hassan added: "Although my legal position is completely sound, the accountant changed his report and alleged that I owed the company 8,000 riyals. I lodged an appeal before the Supreme Body in Riyadh. Being incited by the company, the criminal investigation men arrested me and leveled malicious fabricated accusations against me.
After that, I was referred to the department of expatriates in Jeddah, which detained me for a month. I returned to the Department of expatriates in Mecca to get my dues, but the sponsor refused to give me my dues, 880,000 riyals."
"I asked the company to give me a pension for life because I was injured at work. Even the sponsor, with whom I worked for 34 years, refused to give me my dues. I was jailed for 9 months till I was deported handcuffed.
They refused to give me my walking cane on which I was leaning. I was deported and left my house and property although the Saudi law stipulates that foreigners should get their rights before being deported," Hassan added.
Mustafa Ahmed Youssef, the second victim, has worked for Badr Bakeries in Mecca for 26 years. He was stunned by a letter from the sponsor to the effect that he was dismissed and should be deported. After the sponsor refused to give him his dues, he filed a complaint to the Labor Office, which issued a ruling that he should get 26,000 riyals.
However, Youssef appealed the sentence, calling for 431,000 riyals, but was sentenced to be deported. When he resorted to the Egyptian consulate in Jeddah, the Egyptian Consul Ali Al-Ushiri gave him a letter addressed to the Director-General of Mecca Passports Department, calling on it to cancel the decree of deportation because it contradicts the Saudi laws, which stipulates that foreigners should stay in the Kingdom till they get their dues.
When Youssef went to the passports department to give them the letter, he was arrested and jailed for 21 days, during which the court of appeals heard the case in his absence, and then he was deported to Egypt handcuffed.
"I was asked to name a proxy to defend me after being deported. This proxy should be Saudi although this is an illegal process as long as I am still in the Kingdom. I have to pay 2000 riyals for the proxy for each session.
When I asked for my right to defend myself, I was jailed till the end of the session where I would provide documents condemning the sponsor," Youssef added.
For his part, Al-Ushiri has confirmed that the laws stipulate that foreigners in any country have the right to stay until the dispute is resolved. The consulate does its best to help Egyptians, but it could not oppose the decisions of expulsion or deportation. This has happened with all nationalities and not only Egyptians.
Youssef can ask the Assistant Foreign Minister for Consular Affairs to allow him to return to the Kingdom to follow his case and the consulate will consider his request.