Two U.S. slavery cases offer glimpse of what life is like for thousands of Egyptian Christian girls.
Two slavery cases involving Egyptians and Saudis living in the United States garnered headlines in October and November.
Both cases offer a revealing window into the suffering Christian girls and young women endure in countries where adherents to Islam are the majority of the population.
According to a report by CNN, on Oct. 23rd, a U.S. District Judge in Santa Ana, Calif. sentenced Abdel-Nasser Youssef Ibrahim, 45, and his wife, Amal Ahmed Ewis Abdel-Motelib, 43, to prison, after the couple pled guilty in June to several charges, including conspiring to hold a person in involuntary servitude. Their victim was a 10-year-old girl the couple had brought to the U.S. in order to be their unpaid servant. The couple was ordered to pay the girl, now 16, $76,173 in restitution.
Ibrahim will serve a three-year sentence, and his wife will serve a 22-month sentence, said CNN's report.
The couple illegally brought the child to the U.S. in 2000 and ordered her to clean house and care for the couple's five children, in "squalid conditions," said the report. United States
Attorney Debra Wong Yang was quoted as saying, "The young victim in this case was subject to inhumane conditions that included both physical and verbal abuse."
According to CNN, prosecutors told the court that the child was "forced to sleep in the garage, had her passport taken away and was not allowed to play outside." Based on a tip, police found the girl in April 2002.
On Nov. 18th, Chris Barge, of The Rocky Mountain News, in Denver, Colo. reported that "Colorado Attorney General John Suthers flew to Saudi Arabia" in mid-November -- to reassure government officials there that Homaidan Al-Turki was treated fairly when he was convicted [in a Colorado court] of sexually abusing an Indonesian nanny held as a virtual captive in his Aurora [Colorado] home."
Al-Turki's victim testified that she was brought to the U.S. by Al-Turki to work and live with the couple for four years in Aurora. She said she worked seven days a week, and although she was paid $150 a month, in actuality, the couple kept most of that money. Additionally, she said Al-Turki used her as his sexual slave.
Barge reported "Suthers sat knee-to-knee for an hour with King Abdullah."
Colorado Deputy Attorney General Jason Dunn told reporters that this case had garnered a lot of public attention in Saudi Arabia, resulting in "misperceptions" there about the U.S. judicial system.
"Al-Turki has been portrayed in the Saudi press as a victim of the U.S. judicial system's bias against Muslims. Many Saudis say Al-Turki would not have been convicted in his own country," reported Barge. He said "the Saudi government gave Al-Turki $400,000 to post bail on the charges."
During sentencing, Al-Turki denied he did anything wrong. According to Barge's report, Al-Turki told the judge, "The state has criminalized these basic Muslim behaviors.' He said, "Attacking traditional Muslim behaviors was the focal point of the prosecution."
Convicted of "unlawful sexual contact with force," and "theft of services," Al-Turki was sentenced to 20 years to life in prison.
David Joseph, founder of The Last Harvest, said, "these cases are terrible, but it is everyday life in Egypt. In Egypt, girls are forced to be enslaved, and marry very old Muslim men, especially those from the [Persian] Gulf countries."
He said young girls, under age, are forced to marry the older Muslims during the summer months, especially. "People from the Gulf countries prefer to come to Egypt in the summertime because of the weather and it is cheap to live there for three months. There are some groups at work in forcing the young girls to 'marry' the old guys for two or three months, and then they get divorced."
Acording to the Ahlul Bayt Digital Islamic Library Project, temporary marriages are allowed under Islam. "Fixed-Term/Temporary/Pleasure Marriage are different names for the Arabic word of 'Mut'a' which is a contract between a man and woman, much in the same way the Long-Term/Permanent/Conventional Marriage is. The main difference is that the temporary marriage longs only for a specified period of time, and man and woman will become stranger to each other after the expiration date without divorce." (www.al-islam.org)
The Mut'a provisions under Islam, as well as other Islamic practices that treat women and children as little more than sexual slaves, are used as justification for the kidnapping and forced conversions of young Christian Egyptian girls. (See "One Father's Cry.")
Because of the "Dhimmi" status accorded Christians who live in areas controlled by Muslims, the suffering is further compounded. Dhimmitude, which began in 628 when Mohammed's forces conquered the Jewish oasis in Khaybar, is a system of oppression whereby Christians and Jews are spared slaughter by the Islamic sword if they submit to institutionalized apartheid. As Dhimmis, Christians have little or no legal rights to dispute whatever insult or injury a Muslim decides to do against them.
As a result of these "traditional Muslim behaviors," as Al-Turki described it, what we consider the serious crime of human enslavement and abuse is actually a government-protected Muslim right in many Islamic countries. These two U.S. cases offer a startling contrast in what life is like for Christians living in the Free world versus those who live in Dhimmi status under cruel Islamic oppression.
Please pray for our dear sisters in Christ who suffer abuse in silence in Egypt and other Islamic countries, and have no hope of vindication through a "day in court" in which their abusers could face penalties for these serious crimes. Think about the darkness of such a religion as Islam, in which children are tortured and used as human slaves, and yet, such evil behaviors are defended as "traditional Muslim behaviors." Pray for the light of Jesus Christ to penetrate such darkness, and for the souls of such men to be redeemed by the blood of the Lamb.
Your prayers and support can give hope to these children living under Islamic oppression.
-- Jan Fletcher
For more information about The Last Harvest, Inc., visit our main website.
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Carol Joseph, co-founder of The Last Harvest, holds an Egyptian Christian child during the 2005 Christmas blessing project. Egyptian Christian girls live under oppression due to "Dhimmi" status unwillingly imposed upon them by the Islamic-dominated society. |
