ARAPAHOE COUNTY, Colo. — A Colorado judge could make a decision on whether to release convicted sex offender Homaidan al-Turki from prison and send him back to Saudi Arabia.
Al-Turki is serving time for keeping a housekeeper as a sex slave for four years, and has also been loosely linked to the murder of former Colorado corrections chief Tom Clements.
Al-Turki’s attorneys say he can be better rehabilitated in Saudi Arabia, with the support of his family and culture. He was convicted in 2006 for holding his housekeeper against her will and is serving a sentence of eight years to life.
The family of the convicted Saudi sex offender is an affluent member of the oil industry in his home country.
Al-Turki’s lawyers have tried several times to get him released from prison in Colorado so he can be sent home to Saudi Arabia. Dozens of al-Turki’s supporters have shown up in court for his appearances, and on Twitter, you’ll find that hundreds of people in Saudi Arabi believe he is Innocent.
“It’s really big,” Abdullah al Mutairi said, a UC-Denver student, said. “A lot of people in Saudi Arabia are talking. A lot of people are waiting. They want to hear what’s going to happen.”
Earlier this year, Colorado corrections chief Tom Clements and Governor John Hickenlooper’s office first OKed transferring al-Turki to Saudi Arabia. But then an FBI investigation into al-Turki on terrorism charges provided new information. That’s when Clements denied his transfer.
A week later, Clements was murdered at his home in Monument. Investigators have looked into the possibility al-Turki hired former inmate Evan Ebel to commit the crime.
A parole board recently denied the transfer, as well, saying al-Turki refuses to participate in required sex offender treatment.
A Saudi embassy official says if al-Turki is released, they will honor the court’s conditions, but prosecutors doubt that, saying holding a sex slave is not considered to be a crime in Saudi Arabia.