ABU DHABI // Two Filipino Muslim associations in the Emirates are asking their country's embassy to assist an expatriate woman who was seriously injured while fending off an assailant at a villa in Al Bateen earlier this month. Inshira Hadji Taib, the secretary general of the Bangsa Moro Labour Organisation (BMLO), said the group visited Jehan Menandang, 26, in hospital after she was attacked by an unidentified man in her room in the early hours of June 3.
"She nearly died of injuries inflicted by the man," she said. Ms Menandang, a Filipina Muslim originally from Maguindanao, in the southern Philippines, works as a nurse at a government hospital. She had lacerations to her right lip, an orbital fracture around her right eye, and also suffered rib and lumbar spine injuries in the attack, said Ms Taib. "We are aware that the police still has jurisdiction over the case, but we hope that when the case is referred to the courts, the embassy will consider providing legal assistance," said Sahron Roy Tamano, an adviser for the organisation Maranao Community who accompanied the BMLO members on their hospital visit.
At a migrants' forum last Friday, Ms Taib asked Filipino labour and welfare officials to help the victim. Nasser Munder, the labour attache in Abu Dhabi, said Ms Menandang, who was staying in company accommodation, had left her bedroom door ajar the night before the attack because the air-conditioning was not working in her room. "It was the only room inside the villa which had a power cut and the rest of the rooms inside the villa had electricity. "Early the next morning, a man entered her room and attempted to rape her and later beat her up." Police are still investigating the incident, he added. "She didn't recognise the man who attacked her. So far, a suspect has not be identified," said Mr Munder. The Filipino Muslim groups in the Emirates and the UAE branch of Migrante, a migrant rights group, would like to ensure that Ms Menandang's rights are protected, according to Mr Tamano. "We will request the embassy to give its full attention to her case," he said. @Email:rruiz@thenational.ae
