Homaidan Ali Al-Turki (Arabic: حميدان علي التركي; 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
[3] 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.
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 attorney John Richilano argued the federal government only filed fraudulent sex-slave charges after failing to make a terrorism case against Al-Turki.
A message on the national crime information computer warned the officers "terrorist organization member - caution, do not alert this individual to this notice."
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."
Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors is a focal point of the prosecution.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."
[5] 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.
[7] 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.
[8] After reaching an agreement with prosecutors, Al-Turki's wife, Sarah Khonaizan, pleaded guilty to reduced charges in both state and federal courts.
"[11] 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.
[12] Statement of facts from United States Supreme Court Brief, references are to volume and page numbers in the actual trial transcript: 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).
According to her, about once every two weeks, Mr. Al-Turki would go to her room in the basement at night and sexually molest her, including digitally penetrating her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him (Record 19:21-22, 26, 65, 97, 99, 102; 21:41).
Two married Muslim women described Mr. Al-Turki's similar acts of sexual misconduct against them, including touching their genitalia and breasts (Record 24:160-71, 180-99).
Mr. Al-Turki's theory of defense, which is repeated in his petition, was that Z.A., under pressure from the FBI and motivated by the desire to get authorization to stay and work in the U.S., had fabricated the allegations (Record 18:44, 50-51, 53-55; Env.
[citation needed] Even years after the case was closed, the issue continues to arouse powerful emotions in Saudi Arabia and affect the delicate balance of Saudi-US foreign relations.
Saleh Bin-Humaid, chairman of the Consultative Assembly of Saudi Arabia (Shoura Council), brought up Al-Turki's case during an official meeting with the US Secretary of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff in Riyadh on March 26, 2009, when he urged Americans to review the topic.
Mark Hannen in the Colorado District Court in Arapahoe County on February 25, 2011 Al-Turki's sentence was reduced to 8 years to life, making him eligible for parole soon.
[18] On March 22, 2013, Evan Spencer Ebel, a prison parolee, was connected as the probable suspect in Clements' shooting after he was killed in a shootout with police in Decatur, Wise County, northern Texas.
[19] The Northeast Denver Islamic Center Imam Abdur-Rahim Ali objected to the media attention on Al-Turki in the ongoing investigation into Clements' murder.