A Lebanese model agency encouraged an Irish model to travel to Lebanon for work in November, before refusing to allow her to leave the war-stricken country until she paid nearly €2,000.
Based in Greece, where her family moved from Ballydehob in Cork when she was a child, Fionnuala Watts (28) currently works for a local Greek model agency. Earlier this year, the agency was approached by a Lebanese agency called Twice Management with an inquiry about whether Watts would be open to working in Lebanon.
Initially, Watts said no due to the risks involved in the continuing war between Israel and the militant group Hizbullah. However, following a video call with the owner of the agency, Marina Sabaji, who assured her the war was not happening near where she lived north of Beirut and that the media was making the situation in Lebanon seem worse than it is, Watts decided to travel.
On November 10th, Watts arrived in Beirut on a flight from Athens to start a month-long contract with Twice Management. She says it quickly became apparent that the situation in Beirut was more dangerous than Sabaji had presented.
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Ms Watts describes hearing “terrifying” Israeli air strikes near her soon after she arrived in Lebanon.
The contract stipulated that Watts was prohibited from leaving the apartment in Jounieh, a town north of Beirut, except to go to the nearest supermarket and park.
She said the apartment was equipped with a camera directed at the entrance door; and that if the model attempted to leave without permission the contract would be terminated and no payment would be made to the model.
Soon after arriving in Lebanon, Watts expressed concerns for her safety and asked to leave in two weeks after completing the jobs she had been booked for, which included photo shoots for luxury Lebanese fashion brands.
She says Sabaji threatened her with financial penalties if she left early, despite several air strikes in the Beirut area that week.
After speaking with her model agent in Greece and sharing her concerns, Watts booked a return flight leaving on November 14th. Watts was, however, denied permission to leave Lebanon at passport control at Beirut Airport, as the necessary documents for her to leave had not been approved by Twice Management.
Visas for foreign workers in Lebanon are generally sponsored by employers or agencies under the “kafala” system whereby a worker’s immigration status and employment contract are linked. This means that workers cannot leave the country or change jobs without their employer’s permission. “The high degree of control over workers’ lives under the kafala system has led to cases of human trafficking, forced labour, exploitation and more,” says the NGO Human Rights Watch.
In a voice note that The Irish Times has reviewed, Sabaji told Watts: “You violated our law by escaping in the middle of the night. You are still under the Twice Management visa and our apartment is assigned by management. You cannot sleep anywhere other than this apartment. That will be another violation of the law and the police and immigration can take you. This is very serious.”
Watts says an official at the Department of Foreign Affairs says they could not become involved as her case involved a private dispute. A spokesperson for the department said it was aware of the case and has provided consular assistance, noting it does not comment on the details of individual cases.
In a call to Watts while she was at Beirut Airport, Sabaji demanded €2,000 from Watts for violating her contract and leaving Lebanon early, despite the war. When Watts challenged the cost and noted that she had completed three jobs, she says Sabaji told her that she could raise the cost by several thousand dollars if she wanted.
Sabaji told Watts that under the terms of the contract she was required to return to the model apartment. Watts messaged The Irish Times as she was driven to the model apartment, along the highway to Jounieh, which has been struck since the war in Lebanon escalated in September.
After sending €1,977 via Western Union to Sabaji, Watts was brought to the Beirut office of the Lebanese security agency which oversees sponsored work visas, where an official signed and stamped her visa for exit on Friday morning.
“I heard a massive [air strike] near me this morning while I was doing the paperwork.”
Watts left Lebanon on Friday evening on a flight to Istanbul that she paid for, despite the contract with Twice Management providing for a return flight.
In response to a request for comment made on a phone call, Sabaji told The Irish Times: “don’t bother” and did not respond to a message sent via WhatsApp that set out the claims made by Watts.
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