JAIL TIME FOR TRADITIONAL MUSLIM BEHAVIOUR

Homaidan Al-Turki, a Saudi living in the US for 14 years working on his PhD and doing missionary work in prisons, has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison for abusing the family housekeeper:

Al-Turki was convicted this summer of 12 felony counts of unlawful sexual contact with use of force, one felony count of criminal extortion and one felony count of theft. He also was found guilty of two misdemeanors: false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment.

Al-Turki continues to protest his innocence:

"Your honor, I am not here to apologize, for I cannot apologize for things I did not do and for crimes I did not commit," he told Judge Mark Hannen.

"The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors. Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution," he said.

So, what are these traditional behaviours?

Prosecutors and FBI agents said Al Turki and his wife, Sarah Khonaizan, brought the now 24-year-old woman to Colorado to care for their five children and to cook and clean for the family.

An affidavit said she spent four years with the family, sleeping on a mattress on the basement floor and getting paid less than $2 (Dh7.34) a day. Al Turki said he treated the woman the same way any observant Muslim family would treat a daughter.

Turki’s nephew and family spokesman, Fahd Al-Nasar, is keen to shift attention to the former housekeeper:

Nasar claimed that Turki’s defense has learned that the maid has since become a legal US resident after marrying an Egyptian-American and that the husband allegedly tried to get his wife to rescind her false allegations. He said that the husband allegedly e-mailed Turki through his website claiming that his wife wanted to take back her charges. The prosecution allegedly threatened her with jail time for making false charges, so she stuck with her story. Nasar also said that the maid has since separated from the Egyptian-American.

Al-Turki should be happy he has the chance to proselytize, maybe for the rest of his life, from within the prison system. What could be more fulfilling than doing God's work?