Dec 10, 2005 12:02 am US/Mountain
Couple Accused Of Enslavement Sued For $62,000
by Rick Sallinger
AURORA, Colo. (CBS4) ―
The U.S. Department of Labor is suing a Saudi man and his wife from Aurora who are accused of enslaving their maid.
Homaidan Al-Turki is accused in federal and state court of crimes ranging from kidnapping to sexual assault. His wife, Sarah Khonaizen faces separate charges.
The suit against the couple is for more than $62,000 in back wages on behalf of the maid who is from Indonesia.
On their website al-turki.com, in both Arabic and English, it claims the maid said her treatment was 'excellent and that she was treated as a member of the family and she had never been abused or sexually assaulted.'
A press release on the site stated the maid's passport and salary were being held at her request until she left the country. It adds:
'It is the same custom followed in the kingdom of Saudi Arabia where families will help the housemaids save their money.'
In court files, Al-Turki's lawyers claim he has been the object of a terrorist-related investigation for the past several years. That could be the beginning of a defense in which he claims they couldn't get him on that so now they are trying to get him on this.
"The problem with this defense is it's an American jury and American jurors are going to say to themselves 'wait a minute, that is not the custom in this country,'" said CBS4 legal analyst Andrew Cohen.
Al-Turki told CBS4 why he believes he is being prosecuted.
"I am Saudi, I am a Muslim and I think that's the ingredients to law enforcement," Al-Turki said.
On the website, there are pictures of him and his family and a claim that this case has 'ignited an outrage towards the Americans back in Saudi Arabia.'
Khonaizen, Al-Turki's wife, is accused in Arapahoe County on a new charge of violating the terms of her bond by having contact at a mosque with witnesses in her case.
Because of the violation, immigration authorities are seeking an increase in her bond.
The couple will go on trial next April in federal court.
(Copyright © MMV CBS Television Stations, Inc.)
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