Another Saudi princess was accused of slavery charges this week. Meshael Alayban, who lives in California, was accused of stealing her house workers’ passports and forcing them to work for long hours with little pay.
NBC reported:
A Saudi Arabian princess is accused of “slavery” after a woman who was allegedly held against her will as a domestic servant escaped from a three-story building, flagged down a bus and alerted authorities in Irvine.
The victim, a 30-year-old maid from Kenya, and four other women from the Philippines, were allegedly being held by Saudi national Meshael Alayban, who is accused of stealing their passports and work contracts and forcing them to work long hours with little pay, according to Lt. Julia Engen of the Irvine Police Department. Police arrested Alayban Wednesday morning.
All five women are in good health and there are no indications of physical abuse, officials said. Alayban, a 42-year-old mother of three, is accused of slavery by authorities.
She likely will be the first person prosecuted in Orange County under California’s Proposition 35, which raised the penalty of human trafficking after voters approved it last November.
Meshael Alayban is not the first Saudi princess accused of slavery charges.
Princess Buniah al-Saud was charged with beating, slapping, pushing and enslaving her Indonesian maid in 2005.