The workers, whose passports have been taken away by their sponsors, want to go back to Nepal after complaining of abuse, the newspaper said, adding they have been protesting since February 8. [break]
For the first two months after they arrived, the workers were made to sleep in open in a building that already housed 200 workers and then given a small make-shift room, Arab News reported.
After the Nepali embassy in Riyadh intervened in the case in January, a court issued a notice to their sponsor, who allegedly tore up the paper and has evaded contact with police who are looking for him, according to the report.
Complaints of worker abuse are common in Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, where a sponsorship system ties all migrant workers to their employers.
US-based Human Rights Watch in January highlighted the poor treatment of migrant domestic workers in Saudi Arabia saying they faced "exploitation and abuse by employers, including excessive work hours, non-payment of wages, and restrictions on their liberty."
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