“The Saudi people sympathize with Homaidan Al-Turki and they closely follow up his case,” the Shoura chief said and hoped for a speedy end to the issue. He also emphasized the Kingdom’s respect for American justice.
Al-Turki, a former Ph.D. student at the University of Colorado, maintains that he did not sexually assault the woman, whose identity has not been disclosed due to the nature of the alleged crime, and has accused US officials of persecuting him for “traditional Muslim behavior.”
Bin-Humaid took up the issue of Al-Turki during a meeting with US Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff in Riyadh on Wednesday. The talks, according to the Saudi Press Agency, focused on political, economic and educational issues as well as parliamentary relations.
Chertoff said the US judicial system aims to establish justice for all, adding that it would not do any injustice to foreigners. “Both sides have agreed to strengthening their strategic and historic relations.”
Al-Turki, who had been a graduate student in Colorado for nine years, was sentenced in August 2006 to 20 years for the rape charges and eight years for theft of the maid’s wages. The federal charges of not renewing the maid’s work visa, falsely imprisoning the woman and holding the woman’s passport to ensure she didn’t flee were dropped after federal prosecutors decided the 28-year-sentence by the state court was sufficient. Al-Turki is appealing the verdict.
Al-Turki’s wife Sarah Al-Khonaizan returned to the Kingdom in September 2006 after serving two months in prison related to labor violations: Paying the maid less than $2 a day for more than four years, and withholding this wage, too. Al-Khonaizan claims the maid willingly wanted her employers to hold her salary, a claim denied by the plaintiff.
Hamad Al-Khonaizan, Sarah’s brother, blamed anti-Muslim sentiment for Al-Turki’s prosecution, saying that a key factor for his imprisonment was that he was preaching Islam.
“Homaidan had trust in the American justice system and on the democratic nature of the country,” Hamad said in a statement. “The country that he studied in and where he excelled in school was not fair toward him. They searched for a means to bring him down and tried many ways until they found the weapon that they could use against him, which was the Indonesian maid.”
