Saudi Princess Meshael Alayban: US 'Slavery' Case Dropped

BBC: Charges have been dropped against a Saudi princess who was accused of human trafficking after a Kenyan maid said her passport was taken and she was forced to work for meagre pay.

On Friday, prosecutors in the US state of California said they were unable to corroborate the allegations against Meshael Alayban, 42.

Ms Alayban's lawyers said the maid's claims were a scam to remain in the US.

The charges carried a penalty of up to 12 years in prison.

Friday's announcement came during what was originally supposed be Ms Alayban's arraignment.

Orange County District Attorney Tony Rackauckas told the judge the evidence did not support charges against Ms Alayban and moved to dismiss the case.

Ms Alayban, reportedly one of six wives of a scion of the Saudi royal family, had been free on $5m (£3.1m) bail posted by the Saudi consulate. » | Friday, September 20, 2013

Qatar a 'Slave State' for World Cup Workers, Says Unionist
THE SYDNEY MORNING HERALD: Scores of migrant labourers facing 'slavery' conditions will likely die to build Qatar's stadiums for the 2022 World Cup, a prominent trade unionist warned Sunday.

"More labourers will die during construction than the footballers who will step on the pitch," said Sharan Burrow, General Secretary of the International Trade Union Confederation.

"Qatar is a 21st-century slave state," the 58-year-old told left-wing Avgi daily in an interview.

Burrow, a former president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, said construction workers faced temperatures of up to 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit) outdoors during the summer months.

Nepal alone had recorded 191 deaths among its nationals in 2010, most of them heart attacks, she said. » | AFP | Monday, February 11, 2013

Arkansas Republicans' Comments on Slavery, Muslims Stir Controversy
REUTERS.COM: Republicans in Arkansas are struggling to get past the controversy generated by a state lawmaker who wrote that slavery might have benefited blacks and a candidate who has advocated expelling Muslims from the United States.

The Republican politicians' comments have been roundly criticized and have created an opportunity for Democrats ahead of the November 6 election. Arkansas has a Democratic governor but has voted Republican in the past three presidential elections.

In his self-published 2009 book titled "Letters to the Editor: Confessions of a Frustrated Conservative," state Representative Jon Hubbard of Jonesboro, Arkansas, writes that "the institution of slavery that the black race has long believed to be an abomination upon its people may actually have been a blessing in disguise."

Hubbard, a retired teacher and Vietnam veteran who was elected to the statehouse in 2010, also wrote, "Wouldn't life for blacks in America today be more enjoyable and successful if they would only learn to appreciate the value of a good education?"

His book also says that blacks "are likely much better than they ever would have enjoyed living in sub-Saharan Africa."

Charles Fuqua of Batesville, Arkansas, is currently seeking a House of Representatives seat. His e-book "God's Law: The Only Political Solution" came out in April on Amazon.

"I see no solution to the Muslim problem short of expelling all followers of the religion from the United States," he writes in his book, according to The Arkansas Times newspaper. » | Suzi Parker | LITTLE ROCK, Arkansas | Saturday, October 06, 2012

The Ongoing Trafficking of Homosexual Sex Slaves from Africa to the Middle East
JIHAD WATCH: It probably comes as no surprise to Jihad Watch's regular readers that certain countries in the Middle East continue to traffic in slaves from Africa, with the authorities either indifferent or as willing accomplices. While we've written on this before, there's now a novel twist. According to a recent media report, homosexual men in Kenya are lured to certain Middle Eastern countries with the false promises of lucrative legitimate employment, only to find themselves in involuntary servitude of the worse kind--as chattel and sex slaves of rich families and individuals. Remember, in Arabic the word for 'black' and 'slave' is the same: abed.

Islamic supremacists constantly lambaste the supposedly 'immoral' West for permitting homosexuality and even legalizing gay marriage in some jurisdictions -- homosexuality is in fact a capital crime in five Muslim-controlled countries. But these same supremacists, along with every Muslim government, hypocritically and blatantly ignore the ongoing Muslim trafficking of homosexuals (and others) for the explicit and sole purpose of sex. Read on and comment » | Posted by The Anti-Jihadist | December 30, 2011

Nepali Slaves in the Middle East
THE GUARDIAN: Pete Pattison investigates the trafficking of people escaping poverty and conflict in Nepal. Unscrupulous agents take huge sums of money from them for work abroad then consign them to slavery and appalling conditions in the Middle East. Many are abused by their employers and some are killed at the hands of agents


Anti-Slavery: Today’s fight for tomorrow’s freedom »

Dubai's Dirty Little Secret

Protect the Human Rights of Migrant Workers in the Middle East

Immigrant Worker Abuse in Middle East Condemned by Human Rights Group
THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: International human rights group Human Rights Watch (HRW) has implored Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait to make more effort to protect its immigrant workers, after shocking stories emerged about the abuse of three domestic workers.

In a statement issued on Tuesday, HRW said that it had received allegations from a maid in Kuwait whose employer drove nails into her body, a maid in Saudi Arabia who had nails forced into her body, and a maid in Jordan who had been both beaten and forced to swallow nails.

The watchdog said the stories implied a “broader pattern of abuse”, and that the goverments of the three countries needed to create a stronger legal framework to protect their foreign workers.

"The wanton brutality alleged in these cases is shocking, but reports of physical abuse, sexual abuse, and labour exploitation such as non-payment of wages are nothing new,'' said Nisha Varia, a senior women's rights researcher at HRW.

Many domestic workers in Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Kuwait come from Asia, Africa and other countries in the Middle East in the hope of receiving higher salaries. Because employers in Middle East countries often act as workers' "sponsors" however, they exert extreme power over their staff. Employers can prevent workers changing jobs or leaving the country, and often withold salaries for years. >>> Leah Hyslop | Thursday, November 18, 2010

THE DAILY TELEGRAPH: Doctors remove 19 nails from Sri Lankan maid: A Sri Lankan housemaid whose Saudi employer allegedly embedded 24 nails in her body was recovering in hospital on Friday after doctors removed 18 of them during a three-hour surgery. >>> | Friday, August 27, 2010

MIGRANT RIGHTS: Mission statement: Through the power of the web we wish to raise awareness about the plight of migrant workers in the Middle East and encourage social action to end the violations of their human rights and dignity. Unfortunately, very little is done to prevent the modern-day slavery many workers endure in the region. Our job is to change that. >>>

Indonesian Maid Tortured in Saudi Arabia, Another Beaten to Death
MIGRANT RIGHTS: This week, two cases of severe abuse of Indonesian maids by their Saudi sponsors have surfaced, one of them ending in death and the other in serious injuries.

The first case, of 23-year-old Sumiati BT Salan Mustapa was first reported by the Saudi Gazette. This initial report mentioned that Mustapa arrived in Saudi-Arabia in July to work for a family in Madina. On November 6th Mustapa was admitted to a private hospital in Madina injured from head to toe in an unconscious state. The private hospital was unable to treat her serious injuries and she was transferred to the King Fahd hospital. A worker there told the Gazette that Mustapa’s body “was burned on many places, both legs were almost motionless, some parts of her skin on her head were removed and strong marks of old wounds were on her body including skin loss on lips and head, a fractured middle finger and a cut near an eye.” Mustapa also showed signs of malnutrition or excessive blood loss. >>> | Friday, November 19, 2010

Dispatches: Britain’s Secret Slaves
Watch the programme here
MAIL ONLINE: 'Servants sometimes need a slap - and we don't let ours out of the house': Council worker provokes storm with outrageous Twitter comments >>> Daily Mail Reporter | Friday, September 03, 2010

Limbaugh: Media Thinks Michelle Obama Can Take Fancy Vacations Because of Our 'Slave Past'

Obama's ‘Painful’ Ghana Visit
THE SUNDAY TIMES: AMERICA’S first lady, Michelle Obama, fought back tears yesterday as she toured a former Dutch slaving fort similar to the one in which it is believed her ancestors were held before being shipped to work on plantations in the deep south of the United States.

On the second day of President Barack Obama’s historic trip to sub-Saharan Africa, the first family flew from the capital, Accra, for a tour of the restored 17th-century Cape Castle, previously one of the biggest slave outposts on the West African coast.

“As painful as it is, I think that it helps to teach all of us that we have to do what we can to fight against the kinds of evils that sadly still exist in our world, not just on this continent but in every corner of the globe,” said the president.

Before the visit, Michelle Obama, whose great-great-grandfather, Jim Robinson, her oldest known relative, was born into slavery on a rice plantation in South Carolina, was made “Queen of the Cape Coast” by traditional chiefs of the region.

The couple and their children, Sasha, 8, and Malia, 11, then descended the narrow staircase into the dark dungeons of the ocean-side fort where thousands of slaves were kept for up to 12 weeks waiting for a ship to dock.

Thousands of shackled African slaves huddled in squalor before being herded onto ships bound for America through the “gate of no return”. Obamas tour slavers’ fort in ‘painful’ Ghana visit >>> Jonathan Clayton in Cape Coast, Ghana | Sunday, July 12, 2009

Defending the West
THE SPECTATOR – Melanie Phillips: Daniel Pipes records how a united display of public condemnation and opprobrium forced Islamist organisations in America to back down over the refusal by Muslim cab drivers to transport blind passengers accompanied by their guide dogs. Faced with a united approach by police, courts and public opinion which resulted in such cab-drivers admonished, fined, re-educated, warned, or even jailed, the Council on American Islamic Relations finally backed down. Pipes concludes:

When Westerners broadly agree on rejecting a specific Islamic law or tradition and unite against it, Western Islamists must adjust to the majority's will. Guide dogs for the blind represent just one of many such consensus issues; others tend to involve women, such as husbands beating wives, the burqa head coverings, female genital mutilation, and ‘honor’ killings. Western unity can also compel Islamists to denounce their preferred positions in areas such as slavery and Shar‘i-compliant finances.

Defending the West >>> By Melanie Phillips

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Mark Alexander (Hardback)