JEDDAH, 6 October 2006 — Some concerned citizens have formed a group to raise awareness about a case involving a Saudi national in the US who was convicted and sentenced in Colorado to 28 years in prison for maltreating his maid.

“The Committee of Homaidan’s Friends” has set up a website (www.homaidanalturki.com) to discuss and follow up his case. The site includes a public forum, photos of the Al-Turki family, poems composed by his supporters and newspaper articles related to the case. Visitors to the site can give their comments. Al-Turki’s wife was also held for 12 days and later deported to the Kingdom.

President of the Saudi National Society for Human Rights (NSHR) Bandar Al-Hajjar met the representatives of the group, Ahmed Alqasbi and Sami Al-Husayin, last week at the NSHR headquarters in Riyadh.

According to the NSHR, Al-Turki’s defense team is in the process of appealing the verdict.

During the meeting, the two groups discussed how the NSHR is backing Al-Turki’s case. They also discussed the Sept. 12 meeting between Al-Hajjar and Erica Barks-Ruggles, deputy assistant US secretary of state for democracy, human rights and labor.

In that meeting with a US official, the NSHR expressed concern about reports that while in custody Al-Turki, who had been in the US for over 10 years working on his doctoral degree in Arab linguistics at the University of Colorado, was forced to shave his beard while his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, had to remove her hijab. According to Al-Hajjar, Barks-Ruggles told the NSHR chief that she was unaware of any allegations of mistreatment while in US custody and that she would respond to the NSHR after investigating the allegations. No information about this follow up was available, and the US Embassy in Riyadh would not comment on the case.

During the meeting in September, Al-Hajjar also urged US officials to respect Al-Turki’s dietary regime during Ramadan. Hajjar also mentioned during his meeting with the citizen’s group last week that Saudi Foreign Ministry and the Saudi Embassy in Washington have been contacted for help in Al-Turki case.

Al-Turki, 37, was found guilty in June by a court in Arapahoe County, Colorado, of 12 counts of forced sexual contact with his Indonesian maid, theft of the maid’s wages that were never paid during her employment, and false imprisonment and conspiracy to imprison. The allegations came to light after federal agents arrested the maid for working under an expired visa. The Al-Turkis were also taken into custody.

The wife, Sarah, pleaded guilty in May to one charge of theft for non-payment of the maid’s wages after prosecutors agreed to drop charges against her for kidnapping, false imprisonment and extortion. She was deported after the couple agreed to pay the maid $64,000 for four years of unpaid service.

In return, the US Department of Labor dropped labor-violation charges against the Al-Turkis related to illegally employing a worker and paying her less than federal minimum wage.