Weak mobilization in favor of Sujana and Rosi

The arrest and detention of the two migrant domestic workers’union activists, Sujana and Rosie (c.f http://bit.ly/2gCoFfa) , has stepped up after the General Security deported Sujana on Sunday, keeping her colleague Rosie in detention, Al Akhbar newspaper reported. Meanwhile, the GS did not clarify causes of arrest and is still denying the right of above workers to hire a lawyer. On the issue, Al Akhbar contacted the head of the office of media affairs at the General Security, Birgadier General Nabil Hanun, who categorically denied the act of detention on basis of activism, stating that the two MWDWs were involved in facilitating the escape of domestic workers from their employers’ homes. On the other hand, human rights associations seems to have generally opted not for a low key reaction while underscoring the message of intimidation that GS wanted to covey to MWDWs by the act of deportation. To this effect, the National Federation of Workers and Employee Trade Unions in Lebanon and the General Assembly of the Syndicate of MWDWs issued a statement yesterday expressing their shock over the act. (Al Akhbar, The Daily Star, L’Orient Le Jour, December 13, 2016)