India, April 16 -- At least 41 Sri Lankan women migrant workers have been detained in Saudi Arabia for as long as 18 months, Amnesty International said in a statement, demanding their immediate release.

"Three women have young children with them, and one woman is known to be in urgent need of medical care," the statement said.

The majority of the women are migrant domestic workers, who have spent months on end 'arbitrarily detained' at a deportation center in Saudi Arabia, awaiting repatriation to their home country, the human rights watch body said in a post on its website.

The women have been held at a Deportation Detention (Tarheel) Centre in Riyadh for periods ranging from eight to 18 months.

"Their plight is a stark illustration ...