JEDDAH, 4 September 2006 — Saudi officials have held high-level talks with US authorities in order to win the release of Homaidan Al-Turki, the Saudi man who was sentenced Aug. 31 by a Colorado court to 27 years to life in prison, the Saudi Press Agency said in a report yesterday.
“Senior Saudi officials have intervened at the highest level to resolve the case of Al-Turki,” the agency said, quoting its correspondent in Washington, Abdul Mohsen Al-Misfer. He did not disclose further details.
According to SPA, American authorities first arrested Al-Turki in 2004 for allegedly violating immigration laws before releasing him on bail. In June 2006, he was arrested again for allegedly mistreating his Indonesian maid.
Al-Turki, a 37-year-old resident of Denver, was sentenced to 27 years to life in prison after he was convicted of unlawful sexual contact by use of force, theft and extortion.
Al-Turki, a linguist who worked at a Denver publishing and translating firm, denied the charges and blamed anti-Muslim prejudice for his conviction. He also said that prosecutors persuaded the housekeeper to accuse him after they failed to build a case gainst him as a terrorist.
Al-Turki said he had been under investigation as a suspected terrorist since 1995 but had never been charged with anything.
In a statement published on Al-Turki’s website www.homaidanalturki.com, his supporters said: “Al-Turki and his wife Sarah Al-Khonaizan, 35, were jailed in the US last November for overstaying their visas and the arrest happened in a very zealous and harsh way as 30 armed federal agents surrounded their house and pointed their guns on the wife’s head asking her to show them where her husband hides his gun (Although they knew he has none).”
The statement added that the allegations against Al-Turki were completely different from the declaration made by the maid on Nov. 24, 2005. “She had said that her relations with the family were excellent and that she was treated as a member of the family and had never been abused or sexually assaulted.”
