Posted on April 12, 2006

Couple To Pay Back Wages to ‘Slave’

AP, April 12, 2006

DENVER, Colorado — A Saudi Arabian couple accused of keeping an Indonesian woman as a virtual slave have agreed to pay her $64,000 in back wages, according to a court document.

If approved by the court, the deal would settle a federal lawsuit by the Labor Department against Homaidan Al-Turki and Sarah Khonaizan and avoid a federal trial.

State and federal charges alleged the couple required the woman to cook, clean and care for the couple’s five children in suburban Aurora for little or no pay from 2000 to 2004.

Prosecutors also have alleged that Al-Turki sexually abused the woman and that she was sometimes loaned out to work for other families.

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