FBI arrests Saudi prince's wife in forced labour case

BOSTON - FBI agents have arrested a Saudi prince's wife on charges she forced two Indonesian women to work for her as servants and threatened them with "serious harm" if they refused, prosecutors said.

Hana Al Jader, 39, was arrested on federal charges at her home in the upscale Boston suburb of Winchester, Massachusetts. A US magistrate judge ordered her held without bail pending a hearing on Friday afternoon.

Al Jader was charged in a 10-count indictment with forced labour, domestic servitude, falsifying records, visa fraud and harbouring aliens in connection with two Indonesian servants identified only as "Tri" and "Ro. "

If convicted on all charges, Al Jader would face up to 140 years in jail and up to US$2.5 ($3.56) million in fines.

Al Jader's lawyer, James Merberg, confirmed that his client was married to Prince Mohammed Bin Turki Alsaud but would not say whether she might have diplomatic immunity from criminal prosecution.

Officials at the Saudi Arabian embassy in Washington were not immediately available for comment.

In a statement, prosecutors said Al Jader forced the two women to work for her using a scheme "intended to cause the two women to believe that if they did not perform such labour, they would suffer serious harm. "

The 14-page indictment said Al Jader illegally confiscated the servants' passports to keep them from moving and travelling, thereby forcing them to work at her home in Massachusetts.

Al Jader was also charged with drafting two false work contracts and submitting them to the federal government to get visa extensions for the two servants.

The contracts, which according to the indictment name Prince Mohammed Bin Turki Alsaud, said the women were being paid $1,500 a month and working eight hours a day. But prosecutors said they worked more than that, and were paid $300 a month.

Saudis living in the United States have faced heightened suspicion since the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks, in which 15 of the 19 men who hijacked the commercial airliners used in the attacks were Saudi citizens.

- REUTERS