Kuwaiti woman jailed for filming domestic worker's escape attempt

Kuwait's Appeals Court has sentenced a woman who filmed her domestic helper's escape attempt to one year and eight months in jail, Dar Al Akhbar reported. 

The sentence comes months after the defendant was arrested in March 2017, the same month footage capturing the worker's horrific fall went viral online. 

At the time, the woman was charged with "filming an individual without consent and publishing a video of an individual without consent."

During her trial, the accused said she chose to film the incident because she wanted to use it as proof of the fact that she didn't hurt the domestic worker.

*The video is still available online but we choose not to share such graphic content in line with ethical standards.

In the footage shot by the woman, the worker can be seen dangling from a window as she cries for help.  

Instead of lending her a hand, the defendant filmed the incident and screamed at the woman. 

"Come back you lunatic!" the defendant said in the video.

The worker eventually lost her grip and fell down several stories. 

She miraculously survived the fall and was hospitalized for a broken arm and several other minor injuries. 

Soon after her fall, the video capturing it went viral on Arab social media, sparking outrage among thousands who called on authorities to take action against the worker's employer. 

Human Rights Watch condemned the incident in an article published shortly after it occurred and raised alarm over similar cases reported in Kuwait. 

According to the organization, escape or suicide attempts aren't uncommon in the Gulf country and others in the region. 

Millions of domestic workers across the Arab world are deprived of their most basic rights, given that they're governed by the kafala (sponsorship) system. Under it, they're rendered helpless and often resort to suicide or dangerous escape attempts.

Even though countries, including Kuwait, have taken several >steps to improve migrant rights in recent years, many have yet to abolish the kafala system, which has been labelled as a form of "modern-day slavery."