Report: PHL Embassy lodges complaint over OFW 'torture' in KSA

Philippine officials in Saudi Arabia have lodged a complaint with Saudi authorities over the alleged torture of a Filipino working as a family driver there.

According to a report of Arab News, the Philippine Embassy sent a complaint to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the alleged beating of Edgar Maligaya, 38, at the Olaya police station in Riyadh.

Maligaya was tagged in the death of a fellow Filipino driver, Andy Miclat Dimacali, in July last year.

Saudi authorities found Maligaya's text message on Dimacali's mobile phone on the day he was found dead, Arab News said.

“However, the text message was the usual communication between friends. There was nothing to indicate a threat, or similar to it, on the part of Maligaya," Arab News quoted militant group Migrante Middle East coordinator John Monterona as saying.

The report added that the death notification issued by the Saudi Ministry of Health said Dimacali “died outside the hospital with wounds in the head, cracked ribs and was bleeding from the nose."

“We at Migrante-Middle East believe that there was foul play" but that Maligaya was innocent, Monterona said.

The Arab News said Dimacali's family is still waiting for the repatriation of his remains. - VVP, GMA News

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