A Saudi court sentenced two Asian housemaids to four months in prison and 250 lashes each for contaminating the tea of their employer with urine and menstrual blood, a local newspaper said Sunday, dpa reported.
The court in the Red Sea port city of Jeddah heard that the Saudi employer was taken to hospital suffering from abdominal pain and other troubles after drinking a cup of tea, according to the Saudi daily Okaz.
One of the two maids - a Filipina and an Indonesian - admitted that she spiked the tea with urine and blood. It was not clear whether the other maid was an accomplice.
Saudi households employ an estimated 1.2 million domestic workers, most of them from Sri Lanka, the Philippines and Indonesia.
Some workers experience abuse amounting to slavery, forced confinement and sexual and physical violence, according to a recent report of the New York-based Human Rights Watch.
Some domestic workers are jailed or lashed on spurious charges, such as witchcraft or adultery, the report said.
Saudi Arabia vowed to take action to protect Asian domestic workers from abuse.