News organisations in the Philippines are reporting that a woman who alleges she was raped has been jailed in Saudi Arabia and faces a probable flogging.

The 35-year-old Filipina went to Dammam last May to take up a job in a dental clinic. She says that three months after she started working there a Bangladeshi co-work raped her but she did not report it at the time because she feared the rapist would kill her.

In September she was found to be pregnant and her employer reported her to the Saudi authorities for having an illicit sexual relationship.

Since then, she has been in jail awaiting trial. Last month she suffered a miscarriage which her mother blamed on the harsh conditions inside Hafr al-Baten prison.

According to the Migrant Rights organisation, her case is set to be heard in court sometime this month and, on the basis of previous cases, she is likely to be given 100 lashes.

The woman had been working abroad to support her family in the Philippines, which includes three children aged five, 14 and 15. Now that her remittances have stopped, the children are no longer able to attend school, their grandmother said.

Posted by Brian Whitaker, 22 January 2010.