[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Saudi Gets 27 Years to Life for Enslaving Maid

From: "Ambon" <sea@xxxxxxxxxx>
To: <"Undisclosed-Recipient:;"@freelists.org>
Date: Thu, 7 Sep 2006 20:38:49 +0200

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** Beasiswa dalam negeri dan luar negeri S1 S2 S3 dan post-doctoral
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http://informasi-beasiswa.blogspot.com **REFLECTION: Babu [maid] Homaidan Al
Turki adalah TKW asal Indonesia.

http://www.arabnews.com/?page=4&section=0&article=80144&d=1&m=9&y=2006&pix=world.jpg&category=World

Friday, 1, September, 2006 (08, Sha`ban, 1427)

Saudi Gets 27 Years to Life for Enslaving Maid
Barbara Ferguson, Arab News

WASHINGTON, 1 September 2006 - 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."

- Additional input from Samir Al-Saadi in Jeddah

[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

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[nasional_list] [ppiindia] Saudi Gets 27 Years to Life for Enslaving Maid

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