I almost glossed over this little snippet in a Washington Times column this morning.

Pandering, whether by bishops or government officials, invites contempt, not respect. Nevertheless, after a Saudi national was convicted in Colorado of keeping an Indonesian nanny as a family slave and sentenced to life in prison, the State Department dispatched the Colorado attorney general to Riyadh last week to apologize to King Abdullah for American justice and the 14th Amendment.

Now one can argue that this is spin on the incident, but I don't think it is.

Let's look at why a state AG was dispatched to justify the trial and conviction of a Saudi citizen on serious charges

The door to the palace swung open and Colorado Attorney General John Suthers found himself being escorted through a room that seemed about 50 yards long.

That room led to a second door and another room about 75 yards long.

At the far end, Suthers could see King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia stand up and begin walking toward him.

They met halfway. Photographers with the Saudi news media recorded the event.

Suthers had flown 19 hours from Denver to Riyadh to meet with the king, the Crown Prince and other Saudi officials at the request of the U.S. ambassador to explain how the U.S. justice system handled the case of Homaidan Al-Turki.

In June, an Arapahoe County jury convicted Al-Turki, son of a prominent Saudi family, on charges of sexually abusing an Indonesian nanny and holding her a virtual captive in his Aurora home. He has been sentenced to 20 years to life in prison, pending an appeal.

The case has become a major story in Saudi Arabia where the media, siding with Al-Turki, have portrayed him as the victim of a judicial system biased against Muslims.

For two days last week, Suthers tried to explain to Saudi leaders and Al-Turki's family how the system treated him fairly throughout his arrest, conviction and appeal.

Suthers feels that the trip did some good, but he encountered several cultural differences that were as vast as some of the palace rooms.

Two examples became apparent right away.

"Under (Saudi) law, to prove a rape case, you need four eyewitnesses," Suthers said during an interview at his office Monday. "And they considered it inconceivable that an Indonesian maid was considered a competent witness in our courts."

Another significant difference is how civil and criminal courts mesh under Saudi law, making it possible for a victim or a victim's family to come to a financial settlement when it involves a criminal matter.

"They didn't understand how that wasn't possible here," Suthers said.

Oh, yes -- the need for four witnesses to a rape. Four male witnesses. For male Muslim witnesses, to be precise. Otherwise the victim is a whore and stoned to death. Ah, the civilized Saudi justice system!

And let us not forget that the perp in this case, refused to express remorse because his actions constituted "traditional Muslim behaviors".

That the Bush Administration, in the form of the State Department, would find it necessary to bring in a state's top prosecutor to explain that rape is considered a crime and slavery is banned by our Constitution is sickening. King Abdullah should have been told that he could settle for an explanation by a low-level legal attache from the embassy -- and the al-Turki family should have been told to go pound sand.

Or maybe they could have taken the approach proposed in this column in the Denver Post.

Surely a brief e-mail could have done the trick and saved taxpayers thousands:

"Guys, you simply can't keep slaves over here ... nope, not even sex slaves."

And while it was the Saudi government that picked up the tab for the trip, I'm still sickened. We don't need to make an apology -- in any sense of the word -- for our laws with regards to these two serious violations of human dignity. That the Saudis would insist upon one speaks volumes.

Posted by: Greg at 09:42 AM | No Comments | Add Comment
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