KUALA LUMPUR: Human trafficking victim Mala Vello, 57,will be flying home to Malaysia today after a decade of abuse and a harrowing prison sentence in Nepal.
She will be reunited with her family when she lands at Kuala Lumpur International Airport (KLIA) early tomorrow morning.
Malaysian embassy in Nepal chargé d'affaires Mohd Firdaus Azman told the New Straits Times that Mala was freed by the courts on Friday and received Immigration clearance from Nepal's Home Affairs Ministry to return home.
He said the Foreign Ministry would arrange her flight, with the embassy coordinating her departure to Malaysia.
"She will return to Malaysia via Malaysia Airlines, departing on Aug 29 (today) at 11.30pm (Nepal time)."
Mala's daughter, Uma Sangari Raby, 37, last saw her in 2012.
Uma thanked all parties involved for helping to bring her mother home.
"I feel very happy. We have been waiting for her to come home. She'll stay with me, and we'll take very good care of her," she said.
The NST was the first to reveal Mala's harrowing ordeal.
On May 20, the NST reported that Mala, from Port Dickson, was trapped and forced into domestic servitude for 10 years after following her Nepali partner to his home country.
Her passport was withheld, and she was subjected to beatings, starvation and constant threats of gang rape if she attempted to seek help from the police.
When she left her partner and did so, she was charged for overstaying under the Immigration Act and Rules of Nepal and fined the equivalent of RM88,500.
Failing to pay the fine, she was sentenced to seven years' jail on March 7, 2022.
Under Nepali law, Mala was not classified as a human trafficking victim, as Nepal's Human Trafficking and Transportation (Control) Act only applies to Nepali citizens.
On a call with the NST from Central Jail in Sundhara, Kathmandu, she described her 10-year captivity as "hell on earth".
Her story caught the attention of Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Mohamad Hasan, who said that the ministry, through its mission in Kathmandu, was monitoring the case.
Firdaus previously said the embassy had issued two diplomatic notes in 2022, requesting the Nepali government's consideration for Mala's release, or to reduce the fine imposed on her.
Following that, the Nepali Foreign Ministry wrote a letter to its Home Ministry recommending the release of Mala and another Malaysian from jail.
Project Liber8 programme officers Onysha Boak and Melissa Chin, who were working to bring Mala home, said her case highlighted the absence of laws to address the nuances of human trafficking.