Mahendranagar, July 29:

About 1,500 Nepali women working as domestic helpers in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, have been virtually imprisoned by house-owners, the Nepalis who recently returned home from the war-torn country said.

Gopal Prasad Ghimire, of Jhapa, who returned to Nepal after staying in Beirut for eight years, told this daily today: “About 1,500 women were working as domestic helpers in Beirut.”

Durga Devi Dargi, who arrived in Mahendranagar from Beirut yesterday, said: “The house-owner detained me in his home. He released me after I staged a hunger strike for four days.”

Mahima Shahi, of Kathmandu, said she returned to Nepal from Lebanon with the help of Dipendra Uprety, a Nepali.

“The house-owners of Sita Shrestha and Madhu Rai have been keeping the two in their houses and torturing them,” Shahi said, accusing the Nepal government of not doing enough to facilitate the evacuation of the Nepalis from Lebanon.

Some Beirut returnees accused Ratna Shrestha of Biratnagar, Netra Pun of Myagdi, Hari Sigdel of Jhapa, Ananta Khadka of Dang, Santa Thapa of Mahakali and Lekhnath Dahal of Jhapa of sexually exploiting some women by promising to find good jobs for them. According to them, some Nepali women are still in Dahal’s room at Nava Jane Road of Dauda, Beirut.

Meanwhile, 35 women of Kanchanpur, who were among the 36 women who had gone to Lebanon two years ago, have gone out of contact, their families said. Ram Maya Khadka, of Tribhuvan settlement, who had gone to Lebanon with the 35 women, has returned.

“I tried to contact my wife Sita time and again, but to no avail,” said Tej Bahadur BK.