Woman sentenced for treating maid as a slave

updated 6:42 p.m. ET July 28, 2006

DENVER - A Saudi woman accused with her husband of keeping an Indonesian maid as a virtual slave was sentenced Friday to five years probation and ordered confined to her home until she leaves the country.

Sarah Khonaizan, 35, pleaded guilty in May to harboring an illegal immigrant. In exchange, prosecutors dropped charges of forced labor and document servitude.

Authorities said that Khonaizan and her husband, Homaidan Al-Turki, hid the 24-year-old woman’s passport and forced her to cook, clean and care for their five children in their suburban Denver home, and that Al-Turki repeatedly sexually assaulted her.

The woman slept on a mattress on the basement floor and was paid less than $2 a day, the FBI said.

Khonaizan’s attorney, Forrest Lewis, said she plans to return to Saudi Arabia after she serves her time.

Last month, a Colorado jury convicted Al-Turki on charges that included false imprisonment and unlawful sexual contact by use of force or intimidation. He is awaiting sentencing Aug. 31.

Al-Turki, a linguist, worked at a Denver publishing and translating company and was a doctoral candidate at the University of Colorado.

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