Dubai Ruler Sued in U.S. over Enslaving Small Boys

[sabra]

http://blogs.abcnews.com/theblotter/2006/09/dubai_ruler_sue.html

Dubai Ruler Sued in U.S. over Enslaving Small Boys

The ruler of Dubai came to Kentucky to buy race horses but ended up being served with a lawsuit alleging he enslaved thousands of small boys as camel jockeys.

Sheikh Mohammed al-Maktoum was served Monday with the court papers while attending a horse show in Lexington, Ky., where he spent an estimated $30 million on thoroughbred yearlings.

The lawsuit, brought as a class action, alleged Sheikh Mohammed and his brother were part of a conspiracy "to buy boys in the slave trade, hold them in bondage in brutal camps in the desert" as part of a flourishing camel racing sport among Arab sheikhs.

The lawsuit calls it "one of the greatest humanitarian crimes of the last 50 years," involving thousands of boys as young as four who were prized because they weighed less than 44 pounds.

[marmar]

1. But Dubai's tyranny is just one of those inconvenient truths...

Saddam Hussein's tyranny? That's another story. :argh:

[partylessinOhio]

3. Saddam was "bushwhacked."

[tularetom]

2. I know "camel jockey" is a pejorative term for "Arabs"

is it also a euphemism for "child prostitute"?

[CottonBear]

6. There are also children who are jockeys in camel races.

They do not, however, volunteer for the job. They are foreign boys sold into servitude by their desitute families.

National Geographic had an article about the practice. There was an awful picture of a terrified child strapped to the back of a racing camel. The children are fired when they grow too large. :(

[don954]

4. um... now we know whay M Jackson is moving there...

[marmar]

5. Actually I hear he's leaving Dubai and moving to Europe...

Perhaps to Scandinavia, where he won't look quite so white in comparison to most everybody else. :evilgrin:

[Parche]

8. j

Damn, you said it before i could!!!! hahahah

[Alacrat]

7. I knew micheal jackson was in Dubai, but

I didn't think he had become the ruler. I'm glad I read your post. There isn't anything funny about it, just a WTF, moment.

[Vidar]

9. Let's give him some ports to go with the small fry.

[Nikki Stone 1]

10. Was it Dubai handling security at Dulles Airport?

Gotta find that thread