[Kabar-indonesia] Saudi man sentenced to 28 years to life in slavery case involving Indonesian

[Joyo at aol.com]

Associated Press 
September 1, 2006

Saudi man sentenced to 28 years to life in slavery case involving Indonesian 
housekeeper

CENTENNIAL, Colorado (AP): A Saudi man convicted of sexually assaulting an 
Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her as a virtual slave was sentenced Thursday 
to 28 years to life in prison.

Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, 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, a resident of the Denver suburb of Aurora, was convicted June 30 of 
unlawful sexual contact by use of force, theft and extortion, all felonies, 
and misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false 
imprisonment.

Defense attorney John Richilano said he would appeal the convictions.

Prosecutors and FBI agents said Al-Turki and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, 
brought the now 24-year-old 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, sleeping on a mattress on the basement floor and getting paid less 
than US$2 a day.

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.

Prosecutors denied Al-Turki was targeted because he was Muslim or that the 
woman's allegations were trumped up. Prosecutor Natalie Decker said the evidence 
was overwhelming.

The Associated Press is not identifying the woman because of the sexual 
nature of the charges.

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 illegal immigrant.

In April, he and Khonaizan agreed to pay the nanny about $64,000 in wages to 
settle a Labor Department lawsuit. He 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. Her attorney, Forrest Lewis, has said 
she wants to return to Saudi Arabia and will not fight deportation. 

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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