Kuwaiti airport security officer 'abducts, rapes' Filipina maid

The woman had landed in Kuwait to begin employment as a domestic maid when she encountered the security officer at the airport's passport control, according to local media reports.

The officer stamped her passport but then under the guise of his badge coerced the woman to follow him into the airport carpark, reports said.

The unaccompanied woman was then forced into the officer's car and driven to a deserted area, where she was raped.

Following the harrowing ordeal, she was returned to the airport and allowed to continue her journey. It was only upon arriving at the home of her employers that the woman told of her rape and abduction.

Her employers proceeded to lodge a formal complaint with officials at airport security, which was picked up by local media.

Accounts of migrant abuse have been rife in Kuwait, with a number of incidents hitting the headlines in local and international media.

Migrant domestic workers are said to face long hours, physical and sexual abuse, unpaid salaries, retention of passports and food deprivation.

Last year, the body of Filipina worker Joanna Demafeli was found in the freezer of her employer's home. A Kuwaiti court sentenced her employers – a Lebanese man and a Syrian woman, to death over the murder. But they had both fled the country.

The incident prompted Philippines President Rodrigo Duterte to declare a ban on Filipino workers going to Kuwait over the abuses.

The ban was lifted in May 2018, after the two countries agreed on measures to regulate the employment of domestic workers.

At least 65 percent of the more than 260,000 Filipino workers in Kuwait are domestic helpers.

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