We Are Above the Law (So Say the Saudis)
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There is immense American public and even governmental support for terrorists and criminals who originate from Saudi Arabia, a country that prides itself on Sharia and moral values.
The irony of the cases we present is that not one of these Saudi nationals sentenced for crimes and even terrorism charges in the United States, is guilty. That is, according to the Saudi government, Arabic media, and Saudi public opinion which we’ve accessed in Arabic.
There are several cases in point. Take the case of one Saudi national Homaidan Al-Turki. He was found guilty and sentenced to 28 years for holding an Indonesian woman as a “sex slave” while living in Colorado. For years, the entire nation, king, princes and populace has been fighting for his release. According to court records in the United States, “once every two weeks, Mr. Al-Turki would go to her room in the basement at night and sexually molest her, including digitally penetrating her and forcing her to perform oral sex on him (Record 19:21- 22, 26, 65, 97, 99, 102; 21:41).”
Al-Turki preferred his victim to be “virgin”. “During the last incident of sexual abuse, which occurred approximately two weeks before Z.A.’s arrest, Mr. Al-Turki, for the first time, had sexual intercourse with Z.A., who was still a virgin (Record 21:44-46).”
Then you have his Saudi national prison mate – Nayef Al-Yousef – whom Homaidan praised as a “consoling friend” who was sentenced to 300 years for the kidnap and murder of another Saudi named Abdul Aziz Al-Koohaji in 2001. What is not known about this crime, which we obtained from Arabic sources, is that his two accomplices in crime – Mash’al Al-Suwaidi and Tareq Dawsari – escaped to Saudi Arabia, obtained a “pardon” through influence in the upper echelons of the Saudi system, and received no prison time. Since there are no extradition treaties between the United States and Saudi Arabia, the United States was out of luck when it came to prosecuting two of the murderers.
Why were these let loose? The way it works is that the families of the victims relinquish their right to prosecute and the charges are dropped, which speaks little for the victim’s rights. Countering that is Al-Ryadh Newspaper, which praises Allah because the two “repented and grew their beards”.
Of course, Al-Yousef’s influential father at the time announced that he was working to get then president Bush to pardon his son and thanked the Saudi leadership for their efforts to release him. But you would never find this level of connections announced in English until the presidential pardon which was requested by the government of Saudi Arabia requested for all the cases and more was leaked through Wikileaks.
In the Middle East it’s called “connections”. In Saudi Arabia, you can commit almost anything if you’re in the right family with the right government ties.
Full court proceedings:
http://www.scotusblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/03/09-700_bio.pdf