Lebanese Labor Minister Sejaan Azzi Tuesday said he referred a controversial Mothers’ Day maid advertisement to the prosecutor’s office for investigation.
“We are trying to verify suspicions about a [maid] agency in Ain al-Rummaneh,” Azzi told the Voice of Lebanon radio station, adding that the office would be immediately closed down if it turned out to be real.
He said the phone numbers that appeared on the ad belonged to members of the Shahwan family.
“But of the 627 registered [maid] offices, there is no one by that name,” Azzi added.
The labor minister said the ad – whether it had come from an agency or an individual or was real or fake – is considered “immoral.”
The ad, he said, “is an insult to human rights and dignity.”
The advertisement, which was sent to thousands of mobile phone users across Lebanon, sparked outrage on Monday, with social media users dencouncing it as racist.
The ad read: “For Mother’s Day indulge Ur Mom and offer her a housekeeper. Special offers on Kenyan and Ethiopian nationalities for a period of 10 days.”
Two phone numbers were attached to the ad, both of which were switched off when The Daily Star attempted to call them Tuesday morning.
