Nisrine Zawahra: Slaveholder & Al Jadeed TV Star
Nisrine Zawahra has held Hannah in slavery with no contact with her family and limited food all while being overworked until 1:30 in the morning on many days.
Worker
Hannah Ogundele
Employer
Nisrine Zawahra Daher
THE VIDEO
Listen and hear how Nisrine could not be bothered with the 24 year old Nigerian woman she has enslaved.
THE STORY
Hannah Ogundele’s mother contacted This Is Lebanon fearing for her 24 year old daughter. Hannah moved to Lebanon in August 2019 and works for the famous radio host and TV presenter, Nisrine Zawahra Daher. Despite being a public figure she still refuses to pay her domestic worker. Hannah has not received fair treatment during her time in Lebanon with her hard-earned salary from the past five months withheld by Nisrine.
As well as this, Hannah has had her phone confiscated making her unable to contact her family at a time when her mother has informed us of the death of Hannah's sister. Hannah’s mother also informed us that Hannah has been denied adequate food and made to work long unpaid hours. "No time for her to rest, she work as a slave, she cry always, no place for her to be sleeping , she work till 1.30 am."
When This Is Lebanon reached out to Nisrine, first via her Twitter account and later by phone, she hung up on us and has yet to respond to our subsequent messages. Nisrine has broken the contract* by not paying her for 5 months and we are calling on her to pay Hannah and send her home. Immediately.
*According to the Ministry of Labour a domestic worker "can terminate the contract with your employer in case your salary is not paid or underpaid for 3 consecutive months."
UPDATE: October 29, 2020
Moments after publishing, but shortly before publicizing this story, Nisrine Zawahra replied to us on Twitter. She declined to send the receipts. Instead, she believes she can speak on behalf of Hannah and that Hannah "doesn't want to send her money." Evidently, Hannah must also not want proper sleep or adequate food, and we must presume that it was her choice not to talk to her mother or children since June. Of course none of those are her choices. Her choices were taken away by Nisrine Zawahra as another abusive employer in the Kafala system.
UPDATE: October 30, 2020
While Nisrine previously dealt with the situation as if she was completely unconcerned by hanging up on our phone call and telling us "post I don't care," she seems to have a changed perspective after we brought Hannah's case and her abuses to the spotlight.
Our ask is simple to employers who are holding the worker in forced labour: pay her and send her home. A big name, government power and money might protect Nisrine or other employers like her in Lebanon, but This Is Lebanon is dedicated to fighting for workers regardless of the how powerful or average their employer.
Nisrine's Messages on Twitter with This Is Lebanon
Hannah Forced into False Testimony
In an attempt at defending herself, Nisrine posts a series of videos in which she forces Hannah to give false testimony and humiliate herself jumping around the camera. Throughout the video, she leads Hannah to claim that all is good and fine. She smiles and waves her hands around because she loves Nisrine so much and they are having such a great time together!
Nisrine knows so little about Hannah's personal life, that she forgot Hannah was from Nigeria and not Ghana. As Hannah acts out the parts that Nisrine scripted, Hannah says that, "when i finish my one year i will go to Ghana," a place she has never been, nor does she have family there.
This is a similar tactic that we saw in our very first case in mid-2017 with Halima when Ibtissam Alsaadi's family posted videos of Halima with big smiles and laughs. After Halima returned to the Philippines, she testified that around that time she had heard the family in the living room discussing whether it was more strategic to murder her and hide the body or return her to the Philippines. Fortunately they chose the latter.
Nisrine did make one truthful correction in her attempt to change the narrative. The woman in the original video begging for Hannah's release is not her mother. She is Ruth, Hannah's aunt. Hannah's mother, Esther, does not speak English, so her mother elected for Hannah's aunt to speak on her behalf.
In response to Nisrine, Hannah's entire family made a video with her mother, aunt, three year-old daughter and five year-old son. In a follow-up call, they maintained that everything they have said is true and that Hannah is under intense pressure to give false testimony. When Ruth first contacted us, she alleged that Hannah had told her mom on a previous phone call earlier this year, "Mummy, my boss want to kill me."
Hannah's Family Refutes Nisrine's Deflection
Is it that Hannah loves Nisrine so much she has abandoned her family and children or that Nisrine has denied them contact for months as she enslaves and tortures her? Nisrine needs to hand Hannah over to the embassy with her salary and a plane ticket so she can be reunited with those she truly loves.
UPDATE: October 30, 2020
As the videos released on social media began to go viral in Lebanon, Al Jadeed decided to host an interview with Nisrine and presenter Tony Khalife speaking to one of ThisIsLebanon's Founders in an attempt to clear Nisrine's name.
The channel has previously hosted similar interviews with a bias towards defending abusive employers as was seen with the case of Lensa Tufa, an Ethopian Migrant Worker, who was paraded around on live TV whilst still lying in her hospital bed, and forced to announce that her initial statement that she had been abused was 'a lie'. The show met great criticism from rights groups insisting that such display of statements under clear duress were unlikely to be true and pressured from employers.
The same tactics were used in the case of Hannah with her Aunt and family insisting that Hannah was speaking falsely and most likely pressured by her employer, Nisrine, to make false allegations that she was alright and very happy.
In the interview on Al Jadeed, the presenter's repeatedly spoke over This Is Lebanon staff and failed to allow them to make the case against Nisrine who continuously interrupts even her own colleague. In a display of true unprofessionalism, Tony Khalife goes on to break a request for privacy agreed upon beforehand, and insist that our staff reveal their identities on live TV fully aware of the risks that our staff face from Lebanese General Security and Internal Security Forces.
UPDATE: October 31, 2020
This Is Lebanon, receives a message from Hannah's Aunt informing us that Hannah has had her phone returned to her by Nisrine and that This Is Lebanon should not remove the videos highlighting the story of Hannah in order to keep the pressure on Nisrine to purchase her ticket home.
UPDATE: November 05, 2020
Hannah arrives safely back to her home and family in Nigeria with her full salary. Her sister tells us that her own children did not even recognise her as she had been away for so long.
Hannah's video after she reached home
The People
“The children are crying. We don't want Hannah to die in Lebanon, please!” - Hannah's Mother
Nisrine Zawahra Daher
Al Jadeed host, Podeo podcaster, journalist, slaveholder. Is this still acceptable? Slavery still allowed? Got it. Good to know.
Al Jadeed
Al Jadeed has a long history of supporting faux-feminist torturers and slaveholders. Remember Rima Karaki humiliating Lensa on Al Jadeed to cover for her abusers?
Hannah Ogundele
Enslaved by Al jadeed host, Nisrine Zawahra Daher.
TAKE ACTION
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Contact the Abusers
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نسرين ظواهرة: نجمة قناة الجديد
اتصلت إحدى أقارب هانا أوغوندلي بجمعية "هذا لبنان" بسبب خوفها على قريبتها أثناء وجودها في لبنان. انتقلت هانا إلى لبنان في آب 2019 وعملت لدى مقدمة البرامج التلفزيونية، نسرين ظواهرة ضاهر. وعلى الرغم من كونها شخصية مشهورة، فهي ترفض أن تدفع لعاملة المنزل التي لديها. لم تلقَ هانا معاملة مُنصفة في لبنان خاصةً أنها لم تقبض راتبها في الأشهر الخمسة السابقة.
بالإضافة الى هذا، تمت مصادرة هاتف هانا مما جعلها غير قادرة على الاتصال بأسرتها في الوقت الذي أبلغتنا فيه والدتها بوفاة شقيقة هانا. كما أبلغتنا فيه قريبتها أن هانا حُرمت من تناول طعام يكفيها وقد أُجبرت على العمل لساعات طويلة بدون أجر. «لا وقت لها للراحة، إنها تعمل كعبدة، تبكي دائماً، ولا مكان لها لتنام فيه، فهي تعمل حتى الساعة 1.30 فجراً».
عندما تواصل "هذا لبنان" مع نسرين، عبر حسابها على "تويتر" أولاً ثم عبر الهاتف، أقفلت الخط ولم تردّ على رسائلنا اللاحقة. لقد خرقت نسرين العقد* بعدم الدفع لها مدة 3 أشهر ونحن نطالبها بأن تدفع لعاملتها هانا وترسلها إلى بلدها فوراً.
*وفقاً لوزارة العمل، يمكن للعاملة المنزلية "إنهاء العقد مع صاحب العمل في حالة عدم دفع راتبكِ أو أقلّ من راتبك
مدة 3 أشهر متتالية".
مستجدات: 29 تشرين الأول 2020
بعد لحظات من نشر هذه القصة، ولكن قبل تعميمها بوقت قصير، ردت علينا نسرين ظواهرة عبر تويتر. لقد رفضت إرسال الإيصالات. وبدلاً من ذلك، فهي تعتقد أنه بإمكانها التحدث نيابة عن هانا وأن هانا "لا تريد إرسال أموالها". وكأنه لا بدّ أن هانا لا تريد أيضاً مكاناً لائقاً للنوم أو طعاماً كافياً. وعلينا أن نفترض أنها هي التي قررت عدم التحدث إلى والدتها أو أطفالها منذ حزيران. بالطبع لم تكن تلك خياراتها. لقد سلبت نسرين ظواهرة حقها في الاختيار باعتبارها صاحبة عمل استغلالية أخرى في نظام الكفالة.
مستجدات: 30 تشرين الأول 2020
رغم أن نسرين تعاملت سابقاً مع الموقف كما لو أنها غير مبالية كليّاً وذلك بإنهاء المكالمة الهاتفية وقولها "انشروا، لا يهمني"، يبدو أنها تغير وجهة نظرها بعد أن كشفنا قضية هانا وإساءة معاملتها تحت الأضواء.
طلبُنا بسيط لأصحاب العمل الذين يحتجزون العاملة في عمل السّخرة: ادفعوا لها ثم أرسلوها إلى بلدها.قد يحمي المال وشهرة الاسم وسلطة الحكومة نسرين أو أرباب العمل الآخرين مثلها في لبنان، لكن جمعية "هذا لبنان" مكرّسة للدفاع عن العاملات بغض النظر إذا كان صاحب العمل عادياً أم ذا نفوذ
رسائل نسرين على تويتر مع This Is Lebanon
نسرين أجبرت حنة على شهادة زور
.في محاولة للدفاع عن نفسها، نشرت نسرين سلسلة من الفيديوهات تجبر فيها هانا على الإدلاء بشهادة زور وإذلال نفسها وهي تقفز حول الكاميرا. طوال الفيديو، دفعت هانا إلى الادعاء بأن كل شيء على ما يرام.
راحت تبتسم وتلوح بيديها لأنها تحب نسرين كثيراً وهما يقضيان وقتاً رائعاً معاً!لا تعرف نسرين الكثير عن حياة هانا الشخصية، لدرجة أنها نسيت أن هانا كانت من نيجيريا وليس من غانا. بينما كانت تقوم هانا بتمثيل المقاطع التي لقّنتها إياها نسرين، تقول هانا: «عندما أنهي سنتي الأولى سأذهب إلى غانا»، وهو مكان لم تقم بزيارته مطلقاً، وليس لديها عائلة هناك.
هذا أسلوب شبيه بالذي رأيناه في قضيتنا الأولى في منتصف عام 2017 مع حليمة عندما نشرت عائلة ابتسام السعدي مقاطع فيديو لحليمة بابتسامات وضحكات كبيرة. بعد أن عادت حليمة إلى الفلبين، شهدت بأنها في ذلك الوقت تقريباً سمعت العائلة في غرفة الجلوس تناقش أيهما يحقق غايتهم أكثر، قتلها وإخفاء جثتها أم إعادتها إلى الفلبين. ولحسن الحظ كان خيارهم هو الثاني.
قامت نسرين بتصحيح واحد حقيقي في محاولتها تغيير الرواية. المرأة في الفيديو الأصلي التي تتوسل لإطلاق سراح هانا ليست والدتها. إنها روث، عمة هانا. فوالدة هانا، إستر، لا تتكلم الإنجليزية، لذلك طلبت من عمة هانا أن تتحدث نيابة عنها.
رداً على نسرين، قامت عائلة هانا بأكملها بتسجيل فيديو مع والدتها وخالتها وابنتها البالغة من العمر ثلاث سنوات وابنها البالغ من العمر خمس سنوات. في مكالمة لاحقة، أكدوا أن كل ما قالوه صحيح وأن هانا تتعرض لضغوط شديدة للإدلاء بشهادة زور. حين اتصلت بنا روث لأول مرة، قالت بأن هانا أخبرت والدتها في مكالمة هاتفية سابقة مطلع هذا العام: "ماما، سيدي يريد قتلي"
رد عائلة حنة هانا على انحراف نسرين
هل هانا تحب نسرين كثيراً لدرجة تجعلها تتخلى عن عائلتها وأولادها أم أن نسرين حرمتهم من التواصل لشهور وهي تستعبدها وتعذبها؟ ينبغي على نسرين تسليم هانا إلى السفارة ومعها راتبها وتذكرة سفر كي تتمكن من لمّ شملها مع من تحبهم حقاً.
فيديو هانا بعد وصولها لبلدها