Employer in dock for trafficking, forced labour, delaying salary

TDT | Manama                                

The Daily Tribune – www.newsofbahrain.com    

The First High Criminal court will on Monday hear the case of a restaurant owner accused of human trafficking and forced labour. The Public Prosecution had charged the suspect with the trafficking of four men, transporting and sheltering them in inhuman circumstances, abusing them with forced labour and failing to make overtime payments.

Prosecutors also charged the suspect with failure to provide weekly day offs and unjustifiably withholding all or part of their salaries. The Public Prosecution had earlier announced completing its investigation into allegations of human trafficking and forced labour against the restaurant owner.

The incidents leading to the case started with the victims reporting the employer for withholding wages for more than two years. The victims said the employer also made them sign documents with conflicting terms. They also alleged that the employer forced them to continue work, taking advantage of their weak financial circumstances.

The victims had told prosecutors that they came to the Kingdom for jobs in a restaurant. “However, despite the 8-hour job time, we were forced to work for additional 4 hours without getting paid and continuously without weekly offs.

“The employer also took our passports and told us we could get them only when we quit.” Prosecutors said they took the testimonies of the victim and the accused while initiating a police investigation. A report by the investigators also confirmed that the accused exploited the victims and forced them to work seven days a week without a day off.

Investigators also found that the suspect delayed the disbursement of salaries and failed to pay for overtime, besides confiscating passports. Lawyer Eman Ahmed Al Assar said they had submitted to court evidence for payment until December 2022.

According to case files, workers accuse that they were forced to work for more than 10 hours without overtime allowance and weekly off, besides the employer also withholding their payment. During yesterday’s session, the lawyer told the court that the employer had only delayed payments for a few months, citing delays in cashing cheques from clients.

The lawyer also presented to the court records of wage payments until December last year. The workers, the lawyer told the court, were with the employer for 15, 17 and 15 years. “During these years, they were given accommodation and food by the employer at his expense.

“Hence, it is unreasonable to accuse the employer of human trafficking and forced labour, as they all had freedom of movement and own phones. “Besides, during these periods, the workers travelled to their country more than once and returned to work. “All these clearly prove that the charges of human trafficking are not valid in this case,” the lawyer pleaded.