Kenyan Mother Pleads for Help After Months in Saudi Arabian Detention

Damaris Mutua, a Kenyan mother currently held at the Samesco Deportation Centre in Riyadh, is urgently appealing for assistance from the Kenyan government and the public to facilitate her return home.

Mutua, who has been detained since September 2023, claims to be a victim of wrongful imprisonment, facing accusations she denies. Mutua was arrested on October 25, charged with the theft of an iPhone and a gold bracelet, allegedly by one of her employers. She asserts that the allegations are false and stem from her decision to flee a contract due to mistreatment.

“My employers were mistreating me, so I ran away from the contract, and that’s why they framed me,” she says, highlighting the challenges that migrant workers often encounter.

Since beginning her repatriation process months ago, Mutua reports minimal progress, expressing her distress over her prolonged separation from her child. “I have never travelled home since I arrived here. I’ve even been jailed, yet I am innocent. I need help to return to my daughter,” she laments. Efforts to gain support from her recruitment agent have proven unproductive, and her pleas to the Kenyan Embassy in Saudi Arabia have gone unanswered.

In her appeal for assistance, Mutua has specifically called for the intervention of Kenya’s Cabinet Secretary for Foreign Affairs Musalia Mudavadi, urging him to review her case. She underscores the plight of many other Kenyans experiencing similar predicaments in Riyadh, emphasizing the critical need for prompt governmental action.

Mutua expresses her readiness to provide evidence, including photographs and videos, to illustrate the adverse conditions faced by detainees. This situation sheds light on broader systemic issues confronting migrant workers abroad, particularly regarding their legal rights and protections in the face of alleged mistreatment.