An online petition has been launched to free an overseas Filipino worker (OFW) in Lebanon in the hands of her Lebanese employers who allegedly treat her as a slave for a decade.
“This is Lebanon”, an online community that fights for human rights and justice for domestic workers, seeks 2,500 signatories to intensify the call to release Halima Uphang, a Filipina who hails from Cotabato and said to be facing maltreatment from her Lebanese employers since 2007.
The petition, titled “Free Halima, Slave of Lebanon”, accused her employers, Ibtissam Saade and Ali el Khatib, of enslaving the Filipina and not paying her wages.
The group added Saade and El Khatib also barred Uphang from having any communication with her family in the Philippines, and locked her up inside their house in Lebanon.
“Despite making Halima’s case public, she remains locked in the house. The family says she is happy but refuse to let anyone speak to her,” This is Lebanon has said.
The group also posted videos of Uphang’s family, who calls for her release.
Uphang’s family said in her 10-year stay in Lebanon, she was only able to remit money to the Philippines in 2007.
The petition has garnered 1,642 signatures as of this posting.
The Filipino Times has contacted her employers, but to no avail. Official statement from the Philippine Embassy in Beirut, Lebanon has yet to issue a statement about her case.
Photo credit: Change.org/This is Lebanon
