Couple convicted for enslaving migrant worker
Shuafat couple faces up to 16 years behind bars for trapping Filipina in home
The Jerusalem District Court convicted a husband and wife Wednesday for enslaving a Filipina worker, Kol Israel Radio reported.
In a landmark case for Israel, Ibrahim and Basmah Julani from Shuafat, in north Jerusalem, were found guilty of enslaving Mary Ann Pawig, who worked ten hour days and was denied days off and vacations. Her employers confiscated her passport and cell phone and barred her from leaving the house.
Haaretz reported at the start of last year’s trial that when the Julanis left for vacation, Pawig would be locked in the house. During her two years in bondage, she slept on a folding bed in a bathroom.
Pawig escaped with help from a Jerusalem activist who assists foreign workers, and reported her captors to Israeli authorities.
The maximum sentence for slavery, Haaretz reported, is 16 years imprisonment.