DENVER: A Saudi man convicted of sexual assaulting his housekeeper has been moved from a US state prison to a federal prison.

A prison spokesman confirmed that Homaidan Al-Turki was moved Friday to Federal Correction Institution Englewood in Colorado.

One of Al-Turki’s lawyers says he was told the state wanted Al-Turki to finish out his sentence in federal prison because of unspecified security concerns. It was unclear whether the low-security Federal Correction Institution was just a stopover on the way to another prison.

Al-Turki’s request to serve out his sentence in Saudi Arabia had been denied.