Couple jailed for enslaving 10-year-old girl

LOS ANGELES - Two Egyptian nationals who pleaded guilty to enslaving a 10-year-old Egyptian girl at their Southern California home have been sentenced to prison terms.

Abdel Nasser Youssef Ibrahim, 57, was sentenced to three years in federal prison and his former wife, Amal Ahmed Ewisabd Motelib, 43, was given 22 months behind bars by a federal judge. Prosecutors said the pair would be deported after serving their sentences.

US District Judge James Selna also ordered the defendants to pay their victim more than US$76,000 in restitution, which represents the money the girl should have been paid during the two years she worked for their family of seven.

"The young victim in this case was subject to inhumane conditions that included both physical and verbal abuse," US Attorney Debra Yang said in a written statement.

"As a result of recent changes in federal law she has been granted a visa that will allow her to stay and hopefully prosper in the United States," Yang said.

In pleading guilty in June the defendants admitted bringing the girl to the United States from Egypt in 2000 when she was 10 under an arrangement with her parents, confiscating her passport and forcing her to work 16 hours a day as a domestic servant.

The girl was required to assist the couple's youngest children in getting ready for school, to prepare and serve food, clean the home, do laundry and work in the yard, according to court papers.

She was not allowed to attend school and was told she would be arrested if she was spotted alone outside their home. The couple each admitted to slapping the girl at least once to get her to work, the court papers said. Authorities did not say how her plight came to light.

- REUTERS