Monday, April 07, 2008

Houston Woman Pleads Guilty to Forced Labor Charges



From PR Newswire:

HOUSTON, USA- Rozina Mohd Ali
pleaded guilty and was sentenced today in federal district court in Houston, Texas, for her role in holding an Indonesian woman in forced labor as a domestic servant, the Justice Department has announced. Under the terms of the plea agreement, Ali, 43, of Sugarland, Texas, will spend one year and a day in prison and will pay the victim $72,676 in restitution.

"The defendant forced a hard-working Indonesian woman to do her
domestic work for practically no money at all," said Grace Chung Becker, Acting Assistant Attorney General for the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division. "Through this guilty plea, the defendant admitted that she threatened the victim and withheld the victim's passport so that she could not escape. The Justice Department takes all accusations very seriously and will continue to aggressively prosecute human trafficking cases such as this one wherever possible."

During the plea hearing, Ali admitted she withheld the victim's
Indonesian passport in order to force the victim to work for Ali and Ali's family. Ali forced the victim to work long hours over a four to five year period, performing house and yard work and taking care of the defendant and defendant's family members with almost no compensation.

In August of 2002,
Ali agreed to employ the victim to work as a domestic servant for her in Malaysia for approximately $112 per month. A contract setting up the arrangement was executed. Then, Ali brought the victim to the United States on a temporary visitor's visa to work as a domestic servant. From then until August of 2007, the victim worked tirelessly for Ali or Ali's relatives and was only paid twice for her labor. The total compensation paid to the victim during the nearly five year period of "employment" was approximately $320.

During that time, Ali prevented the victim from returning to Indonesia
by withholding her passport (necessary for international travel) and by threatening her with physical harm and other adverse consequences if she did not continue working for Ali. However, on August 19, 2007, the victim
successfully escaped Ali's residence. She was then discovered by strangers, who assisted her by taking her to the Indonesian Consulate.

Read the full article

2 comments:

  1. Anonymous7:38 PM

    "Combating International Sex Trafficking: Best Practices"
    April 15, 2008: 2 pm - 4 pm (EDT)
    ~Online event. Registration required, and free of charge.~
    Every year, an estimated 800,000 persons are trafficked across national borders, and many of these victims are trafficked into the sex trade, the largest subcategory of modern-day slavery. Sex trafficking is an international crisis, and a rising global health concern.
    This online event will focus on the best practices to combat international sex trafficking. Ample time will be allocated for audience Q&A. The discussion will be co-moderated by Ambassador Swanee Hunt, Director of the Women and Public Policy Program at the Harvard Kennedy School and Ambassador John Miller , former Director of the Office to Monitor and Combat Trafficking in Persons at the U.S. State Department. The panel will feature:

    * Congresswoman Carolyn Maloney (D-NY)
    * Dr. Mohamed Mattar - Executive Director, The Protection Project, The Johns Hopkins University School of Advanced International Studies
    * Congresswoman Linda Smith (R-WA) and Founder, Shared Hope International

    For more information about this free online event, visit our event page at:
    http://www.innovations.harvard.edu
    /spotlight.html?id=1071&preview=0

    ReplyDelete
  2. Anonymous7:45 PM

    OSCE Project Co-ordinator trains Ukrainian judiciary to combat human trafficking
    http://www.osce.org/item/30545.html

    ReplyDelete