Homaidan Ali Al-Turki (; born 1969) is a Saudi national convicted in a Colorado court of sexually assaulting his Indonesian housekeeper and keeping her as a virtual slave for four years. On August 31, 2006, Al-Turki was sentenced to 28 years in prison on twelve felony counts of false imprisonment, unlawful sexual contact, theft and criminal extortion.Saudi Man Gets Prison Time in Housekeeper Slavery Case in Colorado, Fox News. August 31, 2006. On February 25, 2011, he was re-sentenced from 28 to eight years for his good behavior in prison. Al-Turki maintains his innocence and blames anti-Muslim sentiment for the charges that led to his 2006 conviction and sentence in a case that has strained relations between the U.S. and the Saudi government.
Background
Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Homaidan Ali Al-Turki moved to the United States with his family in 1995, after receiving an academic scholarship from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh to pursue a PhD in linguistics from the University of Colorado at Boulder. After successfully earning a master's degree with honors, Al-Turki was completing a linguistics doctorate program at the University of Colorado, specializing in Arabic intonation and focus prosody. A father of five, Al-Turki and his wife Sarah Al-Khonaizan were active members of Denver's Muslim community. Additionally, Al-Turki operated Al-Basheer Publications and Translations, a well-known Arabic language translation and publishing house based in Aurora, Colorado.
Arrest Legal problems for Homaidan Al-Turki and his wife began on November 18, 2004, when they were arrested with their Indonesian housekeeper by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents because of questions regarding his student visa validity. Al-Turki operated a publishing-translation business and authorities suspected it might violate student visa prohibitions of employment.Karen Abbott.Saudi man prevails in hearing on bail , Rocky Mountain News, July 29, 2005 Accusations against the couple by their housekeeper appeared while she was in police custody. In interviews with law officers, the woman claimed she suffered four-years of captivity, exploitation and abuse at the hands of the Al-Turki family.
Bail hearing On July 29, 2005, Colorado U.S. District Judge Walker Miller overruled a magistrate who declared Al-Turki a flight risk, allowing release while charges against him are pending if $400,000 cash bail is posted. The entire $400,000 must be deposited to guarantee appearance at future court proceedings. Defense attorney John Richilano contacted Al-Turki's brother in Saudi Arabia with news of Miller's ruling. The brother, who is a doctor, said the family would help raise money. Defense attorney Dan Recht estimated the couple's total cost of freedom while charges are pending was $1 million, including: Al-Turki's $400,000 bail in Arapahoe County District Court, provided by the Saudi government: $400,000 in federal court: $25,000 to $50,000 bond to immigration court: and his wife's $150,000 bail. An FBI agent working the case testified that Al-Turki borrowed over $200,000 for his business from three friends who attended his mosque but had repaid only about $53,000 of it. Miller further ordered that Al-Turki be placed on electronic monitoring, avoid all potential witnesses in the case except his wife, remain in Colorado and not seek deportation through the U.S. immigration agency.
District Court trial Arapahoe County District Court initiated criminal trial proceedings against Homaidan Al-Turki and Sarah Khonaizan on February 16, 2006, with the defendants both entering not-guilty pleas. Prosecutor Ann Tomsic began the state's case by explaining how the couple brought the young Indonesian woman to the U.S. from Saudi Arabia to work as a housekeeper when she was a teenager. The affidavit states her domestic services included child care, cooking, and cleaning for 12-hours a day, seven days a week without time-off from 2000 to 2004. While not working, she was confined to an unheated basement and repeatedly sexually assaulted by Homaidan Al-Turki. Tomsic added that the woman was allowed out of the house alone only to remove trash, bring in mail and clean the yard. Prosecutors claimed the couple intentionally created a climate of fear and intimidation through aggravated sexual abuse, which was intended to cause the victim to believe disobedience would result in serious harm. The couple also allegedly threatened the victim with abuse of law and the legal process, confiscating her Indonesian passport and visa for the purpose of obtaining labor for little or no pay.
Defense argument Defense attorney John Richilano argued the federal government only filed fraudulent sex-slave charges after failing to make a terrorism case against Al-Turki. They claimed Mr. Al-Turki was under FBI-investigation on possible terrorism links before his arrest. Federal court documents filed by the defense show that the Denver Joint Terrorism Task Force had Al-Turki under a "full fledge investigation" suspecting "he is closely aligned to terrorists and may be providing material support to terrorism." Evidence also indicated a federal investigation of proceeds from Al-Basheer Publications. They highlighted an incident from April 2005 in Illinois, when state police stopped Al-Turki on Interstate 80 near LaSalle. A message on the national crime information computer warned the officers "terrorist organization member - caution, do not alert this individual to this notice." His lawyers claim school documents in his car were removed, copied and faxed by the Illinois State Police to the Denver FBI. The U.S. Attorney's Office responded by maintaining that the terrorism investigation was totally unrelated to the victims allegations.Rick Sallinger, Saudi in Aurora For Possible Terror Link , CBS Denver, October 22, 2005
Cultural bias argument A strategy utilized by the defense contended that Turki's Arabian cultural norms are alien to most Westerners, and hence, vulnerable to prejudice and cultural bias. For example, court documents filed by Al-Turki's lawyers illustrated that "there are Saudi Arabian customs regarding a host family's retention of funds for their domestic servant until she leaves their service."
In his testimony, Al-Turki denied any wrongdoing and said authorities had targeted him because of his religion. He insisted that the woman was treated the same way any observant Muslim family would treat their daughter and defended his actions to District Judge Justin Mark Hannen, saying that:
However, Prosecution lawyer Natalie Decker adamantly contested the accuracy of this statement, stressing that the trial proceedings had nothing to do with the defendants beliefs or ethnicity and instead "has to do with what he did to her (the maid) for five years" and that Mr. Al-Turki's actions represented "a clear-cut example of human trafficking." The prosecution also pointed out that the alleged victim, the Indonesian maid, is also a Muslim. Responding to rising accusations of cultural bias, prosecution attorney Ann Tomsic requested that Judge Hannen should strive to treat Al-Turki as he would any American citizen who committed similar crimes. Tomsic further emphasized that "the world is listening, and the court needs to make a statement that in the United States, or at least in...(Colorado), this kind of slavery will not be tolerated."Barbara Ferguson & Samir Al-Saadi, Turki Blames Anti-Muslim Sentiment in US, Arab News. September 2, 2006
Conviction and sentencing After two and a half weeks, Homaidan Ali Al-Turki's criminal trial concluded on June 30, 2006. In the end, a jury of citizens from Arapahoe County convicted him on twelve felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with force, one felony count of theft of services over $15,000, and two misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. On August 31, 2006, he received a sentence of twenty-eight years-to-life in state prison by Judge Mark Hannen.
Appeal attempts On January 22, 2009, it was announced that the Colorado Court of Appeals upheld Homaidan Al-Turki's conviction, ruling that the trial court correctly set certain limits during jury selection and that the jury's findings were supported by evidence.Colorado Court Upholds Conviction of Saudi Arabian Man, KRDO.com, January 26, 2009
Following the decision, family spokesman Fahd Al-Nasar, announced to the Saudi Gazette that six American law firms had been retained and they planned to appeal the verdict with the Colorado Supreme Court. Nasar added he was surprised to hear the Appeal decision only two weeks after the initial hearing, since he assumed this type of case required a minimum of at least four to six weeks. The Al-Turki family indicated they were hopeful that diplomatic efforts from the Saudi embassy in Washington, D.C. would assist in influencing the legal outcome.Turki’s case to be taken to Colorado Supreme Court , Saudi Gazette. January 2009
Post-conviction After reaching an agreement with prosecutors, Al-Turki's wife, Sarah Khonaizan, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in both state and federal courts. She was sentenced to home detention and probation in the federal case and two months in jail for the state case. On September 1, 2006, she was transferred to the custody of federal immigration officials and according to her attorney, Forrest Lewis, she agreed to not fight deportation proceedings.Suthers reassures Saudis:Feds back Suthers' trip to explain case of captive nanny, Rocky Mountain News Sarah arrived in Riyadh on September 22, 2006, with her two children and immediately issued a press statement, signed by Hamad Al-Khonaizan, Sarah's brother, blaming anti-Muslim sentiment in the U.S. for Al-Turki's prosecution. According to the statement, the primary factor behind her husband's imprisonment was his successful efforts at preaching Islamic dawah.
After the state conviction, federal charges of forced labor, document servitude and harboring an illegal immigrant were dropped. In its motion, the U.S. Attorney's office said that dropping the federal charges was done in hopes of sparing the victim from having to testify again about "the most intimate personal matters.""Sex-slave case apparently over: Prosecutors ask to drop federal charges against Saudi man" Rocky Mountain News, September 8, 2006 Judge Walker D. Miller added the U.S. attorney's decision to drop federal charges was "in no way a statement regarding the strength of the government's case."Sarah Burnett, Sex-slave case apparently over, Rocky Mountain News, September 8, 2006
While incarcerated, Mr. Al-Turki claims he was offered a bargain-deal by U.S. authorities which included deportation to Saudi Arabia and employment as an undercover FBI operative. In a video interview posted on YouTube, Al-Turki states he is being mistreated in prison as well as his wife, who he further contends had her hijab (head scarf) forcibly removed from her head during the trial. According to cultural norms in Saudi Arabia, the removal of a woman's head scarf is considered an extreme insult.
Fact as stated to the US Supreme Court
Statement of facts from United States Supreme Court Brief, references are to volume and page numbers in the actual trial transcript:
Statement of the Case and Facts
In June 1999, Mr. Al-Turki and his wife/co-Defendant [Sarah Khonaizan] brought Z.A., a 17-year-old Muslim girl from a village in Indonesia, to Saudi Arabia to work for them as a domestic servant at a salary of 600 Saudi riyals (approximately $150) per month (Record 18:60-61, 71-75, 99-100, 102).