Man gets 27 years for enslaving housekeeper
tiny dancer
CENTENNIAL, Colorado (AP) -- A man convicted of sexually assaulting an
Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her virtually as a slave was sentenced
Thursday to 27 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 citizen of Saudi Arabia who lived in 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 $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.
http://www.cnn.com/2006/LAW/08/31/slavery.sentence.ap/index.html
Offshore Eddie
Sony Pictures never faced jail time. And he tried to avoid the fine through
bankruptcy. He was never prosecuted by Federal or local authorities, perhaps
because he is American and connected. Meanwhile, the foreigner gets 27 years.
WOMAN FORCED INTO SLAVERY WINS JURY VERDICT AGAINST CALIFORNIA COUPLE
Law Reporter, Nov 2004 by Santoro, Elizabeth
Ruiz v. Jackson, Cal., Los Angeles County Super. Ct., No. SC076090, Aug. 26,
2004.
Although many Americans think of slavery as a shameful chapter in our history
that has long been closed, a recent jury trial provides one example of how
thousands of immigrants in this country continue to be exploited and forced into
involuntary servitude.
Nena Ruiz came to the United States from the Philippines at age 58. Nena, who
had been a schoolteacher, entered this country on a special work visa at the
request of James and Elizabeth Jackson, ostensibly to work as a traveling
companion and caretaker for Elizabeth Jackson's mother. However, when Nena
arrived in California, speaking very little English, the Jacksons almost
immediately transferred her to their own home, where they exploited her
vulnerability to make her a domestic slave.
The Jacksons allegedly took her passport and threatened to report her to
immigration authorities. Nena says she received only about $300 for a year of
working up to 18 hours per day. Elizabeth Jackson allegedly hit her and
frequently pulled her hair. A neighbor finally reported to the police that
Elizabeth Jackson was hitting Nena with a water bottle. Although Nena was too
timid to tell the police about her plight, the incident emboldened her to run
away the next day.
Nena soon found help from U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement and the
Coalition to Abolish Slavery and Trafficking (CAST), a group that directs people
like Nena to community services that can help them break out of exploitative
circumstances.
Through CAST, she found attorney Delia Bahan of Pasadena, California, who is
well known for her labor relations work for plaintiffs. With the help of Bahan
and ATLA member Dan L. Stormer, assisted by Puja Batra and Randy Renick-all of
Pasadena-Nena sued the Jacksons, claiming involuntary servitude, false
imprisonment, invasion of privacy, negligence, fraud, and violations of
California wage and hour laws, as well as assault and battery.
At trial, Nena testified that she had to prepare hot food for the Jacksons' dogs
while she was forced to eat leftovers and give the dogs daily vitamins even
though she had no doctor. She also said she had to sleep in a dog bed in the
living room and change her clothes and store her personal effects in a tiny
laundry room.
"Our expert on slavery listed the indicia of slavery and the reasons people
don't report it," Stornier said of slavery expert Joy Zarembka of Washington,
D.C. "It applied directly" to Nena.
The jury awarded her $825,000, including $551,000 in compensatory damages and
$275,000 in punitive damages. The total award was brought to about $1.65 million
because California law provides for double damages where an employer has
fraudulently induced an employee to change residence.
Reportedly, the U.S. Department of Justice is investigating the Jacksons for
criminal civil rights violations; James Jackson has been suspended from his job
as a vice president of legal affairs at Sony Pictures Entertainment; and the
Jacksons have filed for bankruptcy.
Since the verdict, Nena has reclaimed her life, speaking out about contemporary
slavery and earning certification as a nursing assistant. She is seeking
permanent residence in the United States.
The U.S. Department of Justice, Stornier says, reports that about 50,000 women
and children a year are trafficked into the United States to work under inhumane
conditions-and that may be a conservative estimate.
He says Nena's case stands out as a rewarding one: "My practice is civil rights,
and I've been doing it for about 30 years. It is always gratifying when you are
able to obtain justice for a person who has been so horribly mistreated."
edi...@netpath.net
in America. Both slave and "owner" are aliens - usually Third Worlders
from same nation. Slave is an illegal alien, smuggled in by "owner."
No $4 to park! No $6 admission! http://www.INTERNET-GUN-SHOW.com
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news:gANKg.43992$e9.1...@bignews4.bellsouth.net...
> Man gets 27 years for enslaving housekeeper
> CENTENNIAL, Colorado (AP) -- A man convicted of sexually assaulting an
> Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her virtually as a slave was sentenced
> Thursday to 27 years to life in prison.
>
> Homaidan Al-Turki, 37, denied the charges and blamed anti-Muslim prejudice
> for the case against him.
Oh, that poor misunderstood Muslim! We are so darn mean in the United
States! <sarcasm>
Sheesh.
flick 100785
goldenm...@yahoo.com
I posted this article last week.
It's a shame we are so culturally indifferent and intolerant to those
who rape and murder in the name of allah.
GM
flick
news:1157517008.1...@b28g2000cwb.googlegroups.com...
>
> I posted this article last week.
>
> It's a shame we are so culturally indifferent and intolerant to those
> who rape and murder in the name of allah.
There seems to be one political party saying we shouldn't get involved in
other countries' affairs even to save their people from death, that "those
people" will never understand democracy, and that we should respect
"cultural differences."
It ain't the Republicans ;-).
flick 100785