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When Royals Hit The News: Guilty By Association?

by Senior Analyst Talal Kapoor

The media was set abuzz when Simret Semere Tekle, a domestic worker from Eritrea, filed her 2018 lawsuit in the Eastern District of Virginia, accusing her employers, Muhammad bin Abdallah (son of the late king) and his wife Nuf bint Nayif (daughter of a former crown prince) of human trafficking, involuntary servitude, forced labor, and breach of contract over a seven-month period in 2011 and 2012. She further alleged psychological abuse, and claimed that she was paid less than $2 per hour despite consistently working 15-hour days. News reports at the time delighted in sharing details of the royal couple's lavish 17,000 square feet Great Falls mansion, with its eight bathrooms, six bedroom suites, and 14 living areas, where they employed a small army of nannies, cooks and other domestic workers. Buried in the story, however, was the revelation that Tekle was under investigation by Immigration and Customs Enforcement for making what the couple's lawyer described as "fraudulent claims". Their neighbors on the posh Aziza Court suburb had also expressed doubts about Tekle's story.

In fact, Tekle now admits that her claims were false. She recently agreed to have her lawsuit dismissed "with prejudice" and acknowledged that her allegations were part of an effort to remain in the United States permanently (any claim of human trafficking - even an unsupported one - entitles an individual to a so-called "T Visa", allowing them to remain in the country for an extended period of time). In this case, there was abundant evidence to contradict her allegations that she was prevented from leaving the home, including hotel bills showing that Tekle traveled with the family (as well as photographs and videos of actual vacations to Paris and an overseas ski resort, where she took skiing lessons), and proof that she regularly attended her Christian church and took frequent trips to a local Starbucks and Target. Social media screenshots were also used to prove that she was on Facebook to stay in contact with her friends, where she regularly posted photos showcasing her "luxury" lifestyle.

Although the admission was a major embarrassment for the Human Trafficking Legal Center, an organization affiliated with Tekle's lawyers, which says it has been forced to change its policies and will now carefully screen allegations to avoid participating in another fraudulent case, the episode does bring to mind similar cases, since this is not the first time a Saudi royal has been charged with human trafficking violations in the United States. Furthermore, a royal will often claim diplomatic immunity in an effort to avoid the case moving forward, another issue which highlights the complex interaction between foreign officials and their expectations, and the local authorities charged with enforcing domestic laws.

Indeed, in a strikingly similar event, Misha'il al-Ayban, the wife of Abd al-Rahman bin Nasir, was detained in Irvine, California and charged with human trafficking in July 2013. In this case, her Kenyan maid fled what she described as "captivity", and was taken by neighbors to the police as a victim of human trafficking. Claiming to have a contract that she would receive $1,600 a month for a regular work week, the maid said she was forced to work up to 16 hours a day without rest, receiving only $220 a month for her extensive labor. Misha'il was taken to jail, and her image, unkempt in a prison jumpsuit, appeared in countless news stories. She was finally released on $5 million bail posted by the Saudi consulate. However, the charges were later dropped - when investigators tried to corroborate the allegations, they found no evidence to support the claim. Just as in the present case, they gathered hundreds of photos and videos taken by witnesses and the maid herself that show the extensive freedom she in reality enjoyed, which included shopping alone at neighborhood malls, her purchases paid for by her employer.

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