Wednesday, March 30, 2005
I just heard a TV news report that a "Saudi Princess" has been arrested in my old home town of Winchester, Massachusetts for keeping two Indonesian workers as slave laborers. Will post more when I can find details.
Update: Here it is. They had houses in Arlington and Winchester. Not bad (Winchester particularly is an affluent Boston suburb).
Saudi princess charged with forcing women to be domestic servants
BOSTON -- A Saudi princess was arrested Wednesday on charges she forced two women to be her domestic servants and threatened to harm them if they tried to leave, according to federal prosecutors.
Hana Al Jader, a Saudi national, is married to Prince Mohamed Bin Turki Alsaud, according to a source close to the case, speaking on condition of anonymity. It wasn't immediately clear what relationship, if any, the couple has to the Saudi royal family.
Al Jader, 39, is accused of confiscating the passports of two Indonesian women who worked as domestic servants at the family's homes in Arlington and Winchester between February 2003 and November 2004.
The princess led the women to believe that they would suffer "serious harm" if they didn't perform the work, according to a copy of an indictment charging her with forced labor, visa fraud and other charges.
Al Jader paid the women $300 a month and forced them to work long hours, authorities said. However, to obtain visa extensions for the women, she allegedly provided U.S. immigration officials with fake contracts that said the women were earning $1,500 a month and working only eight hours a day.
FBI agents arrested Al Jader at her Winchester home on Wednesday morning. Hours later, U.S. Magistrate Joyce London Alexander ordered her held without bail pending a detention hearing Friday.
"She has a serious risk of flight," prosecutor Theodore Merritt said...
A spokeswoman for the Saudi Royal Embassy in Washington declined to comment Wednesday.
Merberg wouldn't confirm that Al Jader and her husband are Saudi royalty. Samantha Martin, a spokeswoman for U.S. Attorney Michael Sullivan, also wouldn't comment on Al Jader's family ties.
"It seems to be a very fine family from Saudi Arabia," Merberg said following the hearing.
In court, Merritt recited the maximum sentences for each of the charges against Al Jader, but didn't disclose any details about the investigation.
Al Jader faces up to 20 years in prison for two counts of forced labor, 15 years for two counts of visa fraud and 10 years for two counts of harboring an alien.
Al Jader doesn't have a criminal record in Massachusetts, according to Alexander.
Martin wouldn't discuss the whereabouts of Al Jader's domestic servants, who are identified only as "Tri" and "Ro" in court papers.
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, p.39
A Saudi keeping slave labor?
I am shocked and shagrinned!
That's an outrage!
The story doesn't discuss how these Indonesian were able to get their plight known. Who tipped off the police about this?