Video footage of a maid desperately clutching, and then falling from, a seven-story-high window in Kuwait City late last month has cast renewed light on the harsh conditions faced by foreign workers in the Persian Gulf — and gotten the woman's employer arrested.

The disturbing scene, in which the Ethiopian maid screams at her employer — who films but does not help — was highlighted in a Washington Post story in a video about the "kafala" labor system, in which foreign laborers exist at their employers' mercy in oil-rich countries.

The brief footage begins with the maid shrieking in fear, one hand gripping the rail as she begs the videographer for assistance.

"Oh crazy, come here," the woman filming says, with no apparent concern.

"Hold on to me!" the maid screams. "Hold on to me!"

Then, as the woman steps back, the maid loses her grip and plunges off-screen. The view then moves forward and shows the maid hit a metal awning below as dust billows from the impact.

A still image from the video shot by the maid's employer, who told investigators her Ethiopian maid had tried to kill herself. The employer has been charged with failing to provide help. (Kuwait Times)

The maid survived the fall, suffering only a broken arm and bleeding from the ear and nose, according to the Kuwait Times. Paramedics eventually helped her down a ladder from the awning.

The woman's employer, who had posted the video on social media, was charged last week with failing to help but told police the maid had tried to kill herself.

In a video interview posted on the Ethiopian Current Affairs Discussion Forum news site, a heavily bandaged woman identified as the maid says from her hospital bed: "I wasn't trying to commit suicide. I was trying to escape from the woman who tried to kill me."

According to Human Rights Watch, which has documented the abuse, exploitation and desperation of laborers under the kafala system, suicide attempts were also reported as the reason for injuries suffered by eight other workers interviewed by researcher Rothna Begum and her team.

"All of them said they were trying to escape abuse," Begum told the Post. "I've talked to workers who said they had to figure out a way to escape, and scrambled off buildings to do so. What was shocking about this video is that the employer had filmed it from inside the flat — while she [the worker] is asking for help."

The agency says more than 600,000 foreign laborers work in Kuwait, which has a population of 3 million.

"Even low- and middle-income families will have a domestic worker," Begum said. "They're considered to be incredibly cheap, and you can exploit them."

Employers often lock workers inside apartments and compounds, Begum said — even though leaving without their boss' permission can get them arrested or deported.

A 2010 Human Rights Watch report featured a Filipino woman called Alida who described being struck in the face by her employer after she tried to seek help, having worked long hours with no food. Alida said her boss told her: "I'll let you die first before you go."

Alida said the employer then dragged her by her blouse and threw her out a third-floor window. She woke up in the hospital to learn charges had been filed against her by her boss, who said she'd tried to commit suicide.

While Kuwait — which Begum described as the "most progressive" among Gulf nations — has passed protections for foreign laborers, there's reportedly little enforcement.