Rehana Bibi, who was reportedly hired by Geo/Jang CEO Mir Shakilur Rahman as a servant for his sister-in-law’s family in Virginia, has accused the Yahya family, whose home and children she cared for, and their Pakistan relatives, Mir Shakil and others, of engaging in human trafficking, according to a report in The Washington Post.
Bibi has filed a case in a federal court in Alexandria, seeking damages. The case is in its early stages as of now, the US-based media outlet reported.
Bibi was promised a “well-paying job as a maid” in Virginia, but after arriving in the US in 2013, she “spent the next five years effectively trapped in a Loudoun County home”.
In a response submitted in the court by the Yahya family, they said the allegations are “as reprehensible as they are false”.
“The conditions Bibi described would not amount to human trafficking,” the newspaper quoted the lawyer as saying. “Taking the allegations in the light most favorable to her, Ms Bibi was oppressed, not trapped,” he told the court.
Mayfield notes that Bibi “was able to leave the first time she tried” and argues that “enduring unpleasant working conditions does not make someone a victim of trafficking or false imprisonment.”
BIBI’s ORDEAL:
Bibi, who has applied for asylum in the US because of potential threats she may face in Pakistan, told The Washington Post that she was considering suicide due to the treatment meted out by the Yayhas.
“I have not seen anybody in my life, not even in Pakistan . . . treat anyone like that,” she said, adding her employer barred her from visiting Pakistan to attend the marriage of her daughters. “I couldn’t even watch the weddings on the family’s iPad.”
The report said: “She slept on a mattress on the basement floor and kept her belongings in her suitcase, according to the complaint; for the first two years, she says, she was in a storage room infested with insects.”
“Bibi maintains that she was confined because she spoke almost no English and was told she was in the country illegally. The visa she came to the country on was good for only one year. She says the family almost never let her out alone and warned her that if she went to the police, she would be arrested.”
“I still have a lot of back pain from carrying heavy loads for the family. She also has gaps in her smile from the teeth she lost during her service,” she told the Post. “I was scared all the time,” she said. “I cannot forget these memories.”
