Two World Bank employees stand accused of holding their au pair in modern slavery according to a lawsuit filed in Alexandria, VA. The Independent reports the Saudi couple withheld their Indonesian au pair’s wages, denied her proper nourishment and threatened her family back home if she tried to leave.  

Intimidated on a “regular basis” 

The court filings only identify her as “Jane Doe,” an Indonesian woman who traveled to the US in the service of World Bank operations officer Samah Badawi and data visualization specialist Mohammed Manar El-Iriqsousi. According to the filing, Doe realized almost as soon as the plane landed that the job terms she had agreed to and the ones she was working under were very different.  

In addition, the suit claims the couple:  

“…intimidated [Doe] on a regular basis to hold her in forced labor and prevent her from departing their employ” telling her they “knew where her family lived” in Indonesia. 

Doe said the 35-hour work week agreed to turned into nearly 100 hours, with no days off. The couple also used isolation tactics like refusing to allow [Doe] to leave the residence without permission. They also told her they would have her deported if she told anyone about the horrific conditions she was enduring.

The suit states:  

“On the rare occasions when [Doe] had any contact with other people, [Badawi and El-Iriqsousi] would interrogate her about any communications she had with them,”  

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