A Cambodian maid who was rescued from Saudi Arabia last month after spending 12 years working without pay said she does not blame the government official who recruited her, even amid claims that a second Cambodian maid has been found in the same situation.

Sos Rotors, a 28-year-old from Kampong Thom who was sent to Saudi Arabia in 2005 as a teenager, said she felt “sorry” for prominent Muslim community leader Ahmad Yahya, who was fired from his job at the Social Affairs Ministry last week.

“It is not his mistake; I was the one who asked him [for a job],” Rotors said. “If I were the government, I would not remove him from his position. He is a good-hearted man.”

Government officials said Yahya’s now-defunct recruiting agency acted illegally in sending Rotors to Saudi Arabia without a signed memorandum of understanding.

Yesterday, Ministry of Labour Secretary of State Othsman Hassan – who has butted heads with Yahya in the past – posted a picture of an alleged second Cambodian maid trafficked to Saudi Arabia and said he was working to repatriate her.

Yahya confirmed in a message yesterday that the second maid, named Eng Pov, had travelled to Saudi Arabia with assistance from his company in August 2005, but declined to comment further.

In an interview yesterday, Rotors recalled travelling to Saudi Arabia with roughly 19 other Cambodian women. She has not been in touch with any of them since, she said.