A 26-year-old Egyptian man threatened on Thursday to commit suicide from the roof of a famous restaurant in the provincial city of Al Ta'if in Saudi Arabia.

The man was protesting not being paid his salary for the last six months as well as the confiscation of his passport by his employer, Al-Ahram's Arabic website reported.

The Saudi police managed to convince the man not to kill himself before taking him into custody, several Saudi news sources stated.

The Egyptian citizen works at a restaurant in the Al Ta'if province, and was in constant dispute with his Saudi employer who refused his request to travel back to Egypt and withheld his wages. 

More than 1.5 million Egyptians are currently working in Saudi Arabia, and latest statistics have shown that Egyptians send an average of $8 billion back home annualy, supplying 60 per cent of overall domestic remittances.  

Saudi employers are legally allowed to retain employee passports upon their arrival to the country.