BOULDER, COLORADO — A Saudi Arabian citizen serving prison time in the United states has received a groundswell of support from Saudi society hoping to influence a parole decision that could see him set free.
His crimes? Sexually assaulting his family’s Indonesian maid and keeping her as a virtual slave for nearly five years while he studied in the US.
In 2006, a court found Homaiden Al-Turki guilty of 12 felony and misdemeanor charges spanning sexual assault, false imprisonment, and withholding his live-in maid’s income. He was sentenced to 28 years in prison.
But 2011, Al-Turki’s sentence was commuted to eight-years-to-life for good behavior. He is currently up for parole and has received energetic support in his home country. Politicians, Muslim leaders and citizens have been vocal on Twitter, even trending the hastag, #AlTurkiParole, in the hope of getting their man freed.
Yet, Al-Turki has never admitted to the abuse and so is ineligible to participate in a sex offender’s treatment program — a course that is mandatory if he wishes to be paroled.
Throughout all of this, Al-Turki’s family and other supporters have either denied or downplayed the abuse he subjected his young Indonesian maid to, identified in court records only as Z.A.
The story begins in s 1999, when Al-Turki hired Z.A., then aged 17. Al-Turki moved his family to the US in 2000 to pursue a PhD in linguistics at the University of Colorado, Boulder. A.Z. came with them.
It was in the US, that the abuse began. Z.A. claims that Al-Turki allowed her passport to expire and intentionally didn’t renew it, telling her she’d be arrested if US authorities learned she was in the country illegally.
Al-Turki also sexually assaulted the young woman numerous times.
Al-Turki and his wife forbade her from writing letters home to her friends or of leaving the house unaccompanied.
The torment didn’t end there. Z.A. was paid a total of only a $1,500 for the entire time she worked for the family in the US. Under minimum wage laws, she should have received $96,000.
He also instructed her to tell neighbors the received $800 per month and two days off per week. Both were lies.
Al-Turki has denied any wrongdoing and argued in court that as his personal employee, Z.A. was treated in line with his Arab Muslim customs and that in his home country, he would not be punished.
He further argued that it was unreasonable for him to be expected to “fully American” in his conduct. He accused authorities of persecuting him for his culture and religion.
The prosecutor rejected Al-Turki’s persecution defense and argued that this was a clear case of human trafficking.
“For many young women like Z.A, foreign housekeeping work presents an opportunity some real money, and many young women limited education want the chance to earn for themselves and their families back home.
“But the horrific humber of abuse cases against Indonesian maids in Saudi Arabia and several other countries led the Indonesian government in 2015 to ban its citizens from taking jobs in those countries.”
Still, desperate for work, many young Indonesian women take the risk and seek work overseas with help from illegal agents.
Apparently Al-Turki and, judging from the hundreds of tweets, many of his cheerleaders believe it’s ok to treat female employees no better than livestock.
