Chinese abducted in Iraq earned only 3 dollars a day
Hong Kong (AsiaNews/SCMP) The Italian security and body guards abducted in Iraq, whose capture is linked to a ring of mercenaries, earned about 900-1000 dollars a day. The seven Chinese kidnapped and freed in Falluja earned only about 3 dollars a day.
The English-language Hong Kong newspaper, South China Morning Post, published a small behind-the-scenes article today on the lives of the abducted far east citizens. The article says that were invited to come to Iraq with promises of healthy monthly earnings (5000-6000 yuan or 625-750 euro). According to the Chinese daily, Jiefang, the Chinese workers had to pay 23,800 yuan (around 3000 euro) to a middleman in order to be accepted into the group of immigrants. In citizens' home province of Fujian, the seven former fishermen and farmers could earn about 900 yuan (100 euro) a month.
The seven men, between the ages of 18 and 49, had traveled to Iraq to repaint a hotel. Yet upon their arrival there were sent to hard labor jobs and paid barely enough to survive.
Lin Kongmin, 18, is the youngest of the group. His uncle, Lin Zhenghua said his family didn't know that there was war in Iraq. His finally is still in financial difficulty. Lin Kongmin's father has just suffered a small heart attack and still needs to work to maintain his two children
On interesting fact is that Fujian authorities has for quite some time alerted citizens about the risks of going to work in Iraq. Yet organizations gathering together teams of manual labor distribute fliers and advertisements everywhere offering work in Iraq.
The father of Lin Jingbing, another of the released Chinese workers, said that "a middleman" had come to his house "saying that the war was over". "He said that there were projects worth millions of yuan and that a worker like my son was needed."
Chinese authorities say they never gave the seven permission to work in or travel to Iraq. And yet the hostages had all their permits in order, while it is not known how or when they obtained them.
.png)
