New Religious Freedom Coalition Video on Saudi Slavery

On May 16th the Religious Freedom Coalition released a new video on the situation of Saudi diplomats holding domestic workers in their Virginia mansion as slaves. The legal word for this slavery is “domestic servitude,” but by any name it is slavery.

The video exposes the mansion in McLean owned by the Saudi Arabian government that was raided by Immigration and Custom Enforcement (ICE) on May 2nd after one woman tried to flee by squeezing through a gap in the front gate as it was closing. The house is less than two miles from the headquarters of the CIA.

Sen. Marco Rubio, R-Fla., is raising questions about whether the State Department is failing to enforce human trafficking provisions when it comes to foreign dignitaries on U.S. soil, in the wake of recent allegations of human slavery against a Saudi diplomat in Washington.

In the newly released video William J. Murray, chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, demands answers from President Barack Obama as to why human trafficking by the Saudi royals has been swept under the rug and forgotten by his Administration.

Transcript:

Immigration officials are “investigating” a complaint at one of the many Saudi owned mansions in McLean, Virginia where domestic workers were allegedly kept in conditions of slavery and William J. Murray, the chairman of the Religious Freedom Coalition, has demanded that the Obama Administration take action.

Immigration and Custom Enforcement spokesman Brandon Montgomery said two women, both from the Philippines, who were “possible” victims of domestic servitude were rescued from the home on May 2nd, 2013.

Neither the Saudi Ambassador or the State Department would reveal the names of the Saudi officials living in the home; however, local records indicate that the most probably resident is Saudi Embassy defense attaché Brigadier General Amin Muhammad Shaker, although others Saudis are linked to the property as well.

William Murray said, “Sadly this is by no means the first time diplomats from Saudi Arabia have held domestic workers against their will. The diplomats are just continuing a tradition from Saudi Arabia where many guest workers become domestic slaves. ”

A current report by the United Nations High Commission For Refugees (UNHCR) states:

“Saudi Arabia is a destination country for men and women subjected to forced labor and to a lesser extent, forced prostitution. Men and women from Bangladesh, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Pakistan, the Philippines, Indonesia, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, and many other countries voluntarily travel to Saudi Arabia as domestic servants or other low-skilled laborers, but some subsequently face conditions indicative of involuntary servitude, including nonpayment of wages, long working hours without rest, deprivation of food, threats, physical or sexual abuse, and restrictions on movement such as the withholding of passports or confinement to the workplace.”

William J. Murray said, “Saudi diplomats believe they can practice the same crimes against humanity in Virginia as are common in Saudi Arabia. President Obama needs to make clear to the despots who run the criminal enterprise known as the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia that they must stop this outrage on American soil.