Man Given 11 Years for Holding Illegal Immigrant in Slavery

A Los Angeles man who held an illiterate Bangladeshi woman in servitude for five years was sentenced Monday to more than 11 years in federal prison.

U.S. District Judge Manuel L. Real also ordered Nur Alamin, 40, to pay $125,819 in restitution to the woman, Shaefeli Akhtar.

The amount represents the wages Akhtar, who is uncertain whether she is 28 or 29 years old, should have been paid during the years she cooked and cleaned for the couple and cared for their children at their Koreatown home, Assistant U.S. Atty. Tammy Spertus said.

She previously had worked for the family of Alamin’s wife, Rabiya Akhter, 32, in Bangladesh, said Assistant U.S. Atty. Caroline Wittcoff.

Prosecutors said Akhtar was smuggled from India to Saudia Arabia and then to the United States in July 1995.

She testified during the trial that the couple made her sleep on the kitchen floor or behind the sofa, abused her and threatened to kill her if she tried to leave. There also was evidence that Alamin sexually abused Akhtar, Wittcoff said.

During the trial, neighbors testified that they had seen Alamin beat Akhtar and had seen her cry, Wittcoff said.

The couple also told her that she would be arrested if she went to the police because she was in the United States illegally, Akhtar testified. Eventually, Akhtar overcame her fear and ran to a neighbor’s apartment, where police were called, Wittcoff said.

Alamin’s attorney said he would file a notice of appeal.

Alamin owns the Great Star of India restaurant on 3rd Street in Los Angeles.

Rabiya Akhter pleaded guilty on the eve of the trial to harboring an illegal immigrant. She is expected to be sentenced next Monday to a year in jail, prosecutors said.