US court sentences Virginia family for forced labour of Pakistani woman:
US court sentences Virginia family for forced labour of Pakistani woman
A federal court in the US state of Virginia sentenced a family to 12 years of forced labour on a Pakistani lady.
Mohammad Nauman Chaudhri, 55, was sentenced to five years in prison.
Mohammed Rehan Chaudhri, 48; and Zahida Aman, 80, were sentenced to 12 years in prison by a federal court in Richmond, Virginia.
Aman and Rehan Chaudhri were also ordered to pay $250,000 to the victim for lost income and other financial losses.
A jury found the defendants guilty of conspiracy to engage in forced labour in May.
Rehan Chaudhri was convicted of forced labour.
While Aman was convicted of both forced labour and document servitude.
Aman was accused of arranging the victim’s marriage to her son in 2002.
And keeping her in the Virginia house with the other defendants after the victim’s husband departed to work as a domestic servant.
Kristen Clarke, assistant attorney general in the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division stated:
“These defendants callously exploited the victim’s vulnerabilities and brutally coerced her labour through physical violence and emotional abuse.”
“Human trafficking is an affront to human rights and to our nation’s core values.
The Department of Justice is committed to vindicating the rights of survivors and bringing human traffickers to justice.”
Assistant Director Luis Quesada Said:
“Human trafficking is a global issue that cannot be tackled alone.”
He further added:
“The FBI will remain committed to investigating all forms of human trafficking.
And work with our law enforcement partners in combatting the problem.”
Even after Zahida Aman arranged for her son to marry the victim in 2002.
The defendants continued to shelter the victim at their Virginia home in order to accommodate the victim’s extended family.
According to the US Justice Department:
The victim was forced to work as a domestic servant for the family.
She was also subjected to physical and verbal abuse, communication restrictions with her family in Pakistan, confiscation of money and immigration documents, and threats of separating her from her children by deporting her to Pakistan.
Statement said:
“The defendants slapped, kicked, and pushed the victim, even beat her with a wooden board, and on one occasion hog-tied her hands and feet and dragged her down the stairs in front of her children. All of these coercive means were employed by the defendants to compel the victim’s labour in their home.”
Justice Department said:
“They restricted her food, forbade her from learning to drive or speaking to anyone except the defendants’ family members, and prohibited her from calling her family in Pakistan.”
