London slavery: Siti Aishah believed to have appeared in 1997 ITV News documentary
A screengrab of a woman believed to be Malaysian Siti Aishah, taken from the 1997 ITV News video.
PETALING JAYA: A 16-year-old documentary by ITV News showing an attempt by British media to speak to the leader of the alleged Maoist cult has surfaced, with a woman believed to be Malaysian Siti Aishah, 69, also pictured in the video.
The video, which can be seen on the ITV website, is an excerpt of a 1997 documentary about the death of Sian Davies, who died after falling from a window at the house they shared with Aravindan Balakrishnan, also known as Comrade Bala, and his partner Chanda Pattni.
Two of the three women kept as slaves are believed to be in the ITV News video.
In the video, a woman named Josephine, which ITV News believes to be the 57-year-old Irish woman who was enslaved, repeatedly accused cameramen of being "part of the fascist state".
When a reporter asked for Comrade Bala, an unknown woman of Chinese origin, speaking in what appears to be a Malaysian accent asked, “Are you higher than the Coroner’s Court, everything has to be sorted out there”.
Another woman, which ITV News believes to Siti, said, "we don’t want to talk to you" finally shutting the door.
Siti Aishah is one of three women believed to be have been held for more than three decades by a cult-like Maoist sect led by Indian national Aravindan Balakrishnan and his partner Chanda Pattni, a Tanzanian national of Indian descent.
The Malaysian woman, believed to be Siti, 69, was held alongside an Irish woman, 57 who has tentatively been identified as Josephine Herival by the British press, and a younger woman known as Rosie Davies, 30.
The Star
