Posted on 08/31/2006 11:03:57 PM PDT by Mount Athos
A Saudi man convicted of sexually assaulting an Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her as a virtual slave was sentenced yesterday to 27 years to life in prison in Colorado.
Homaidan Al-Turki, the 37-year-old Saudi national, denied the charges and blamed anti-Muslim prejudice for the case against him. He said prosecutors persuaded the housekeeper to accuse him after they failed to build a case that he was a terrorist.
Al-Turki, who was studying for a doctoral degree at the University of Colorado, was convicted June 30 of unlawful sexual contact by use of force, theft and extortion. All are felonies.
He was also convicted on misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.
After the judge denied a motion for a new trial yesterday, defense attorney John Richilano said he would appeal the convictions. The lawyer argued that cultural differences were at the heart of the charges.
The Saudi Embassy in Washington would not comment on the case.
“The problem is that in Saudi Arabia, many are going to take Al-Turki’s side, and say he was a good guy, which isn’t true,” said a Saudi businessman working in Washington who is following the case but requested anonymity. “He truly did some awful things.”
Bakr Bagader, member of the Saudi National Human Rights Society (NHRS), said the Saudi government should ensure that the man is indeed guilty. “If the man is given a fair trial and is found guilty of sexual assault, backed up by solid evidence, then no one should be above the law,” said Bagader.
Prosecutors and FBI agents said Al-Turki and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, brought the woman to Colorado to care for their five children and to cook and clean for the family. An affidavit said she spent four years with the family in their suburban Colorado home, sleeping on a mattress on the basement floor and getting paid less than $2 a day.
The media have not identified the woman, who is now 24, because she is an alleged victim of rape.
Al-Turki said he treated the woman the same way any observant Muslim family would treat a daughter. “Your honor, I am not here to apologize, for I cannot apologize for things I did not do and for crimes I did not commit,” he told the judge. “The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution.”
Al-Turki said he has been under investigation as a suspected terrorist since 1995 but has never been charged with the crime. “I am not a terrorist and I don’t advocate terrorism,” he said.
Al-Turki, a linguist who worked at a Denver publishing and translating company, also faces trial in federal court in October on charges of forced labor, document servitude, and harboring an undocumented migrant worker.
In April, he and his wife Khonaizan, agreed to pay the nanny about $64,000 in wages to settle a Labor Department lawsuit. Al-Turki could also face restitution payments in the state case. The judge said he would rule on that later.
Khonaizan pleaded guilty to a federal immigration charge and a state theft charge. She was sentenced to home detention and probation in the federal case and two months in jail in the state case, and received a credit for the 15 days she already served in prison.
Her attorney, Forrest Lewis, has said she wants to return to Saudi Arabia and will not fight deportation, which Lewis expects will occur after her state sentence is completed.
The judge also sentenced her to five years of probation and 48 hours of community service.
She also pleaded guilty to federal charges of harboring an illegal immigrant. In exchange, prosecutors dropped several other charges, including kidnapping.
Dozens of members of the Denver area Muslim community, including Al-Turki’s family and the prayer leader of the state’s largest mosque, packed the courtroom. Many had written to the judge expressing support for Al-Turki. Other letters of support came from Al-Turki’s academic colleagues at the University of Colorado.
The NHRS’ Bagader said that setting aside the more serious charges related to sexual assault, he felt there were some cultural issues that may indeed be at play on some of the evidence related to illegal imprisonment, such as the allegation that Al-Turki was holding the maid’s passport.
“The American government and our government should work together to clarify to Saudis heading to the US for vacation or education purposes, who wish to take their housekeepers, what they should do and what they shouldn’t according to US law,” he said.
But, he added, the mistreatment of housekeepers is a problem in the Kingdom. “Our society needs to become more aware of housekeepers’ human rights,” he said. “We all know there are a lot of cases raised against Saudis for the abuse of housemaids.”
Legal adviser Mohammed Al-Abdali, however, said he felt like the sentence of 27 years to life is a “down point for the American courts that we used to respect and admire.”
“There was no justice in this case according to what we have learned,” said Al-Abdali. “To my knowledge, the evidence against him doesn’t hold up on both verdicts.
They used holding her passport, which most Saudis and GCC citizens do because a lot of housekeepers flee and tend to work for illegitimate networks, as evidence.”
True. Here in the West, we don't allow the enslaving of women for personal pleasure.
This sentence is excessive and outrageous. This fellow is being penalized and discriminated against simply because he is a pious practitioner of his religion. We must be more tolerant and understanding of their ways. (sarc)
Indonesian housekeeper PING!!
This guy was in CU-Boulder's linguistics department, dunno if he taught in addition to studying.
It'd be interesting to see where CU gets its grants from, if there is any Saudi money there.
The Saudi's never heard of bloodhounds.
Religion of Pieces alerted .....
The last societies on earth to tolerate slavery: Sub-Saharan Africa and the Muslim world.
Did he hang out with old Chief S#itting Bull Ward Churchill?
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