The U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) announced on Monday that a federal court in Kansas has convicted six members of the United Nations Organization of Islamic Organizations (UNOI) of conspiracy to commit forced labor.
According to a Department of Justice announcement, Kaaba Majeed, 50, Yunus Rasool, 39, James Staton, 62, Randolph Rodney Hadley, 49, Daniel Aubrey Jenkins, 43, and Dana Peach, 60, were convicted of conspiracy to commit forced labor. statementTheir trial lasted 26 days.
Two other co-defendants, Etenia Kinard, 48, and Jacelyn Greenwell, 45, reportedly previously pleaded guilty to the same charges.
Majeed was also convicted on five additional forced labor charges, according to the statement.
The defendants, all of whom were reportedly UNOI executives or the wives of UNOI founder Royall Jenkins, conspired to force more than a dozen victims, some as young as eight years old, to work 16-hour days without pay at businesses owned and operated by UNOI between October 2000 and November 2012. (Related: FBI discovers Alabama-grown Islamic extremist camp with ties to New Mexico facility)
The victims also worked as domestic helpers in the defendants' homes and “all lived in squalid conditions, in overcrowded accommodation infested with mould and rats”, the prosecution argued, adding that they were in stark contrast to the defendants.
The defendants reportedly separated the victims from their families and support systems under the pretense of providing them with education and skills, imposed many strict rules on the victims that differed from those set forth by Jenkins, performed colonic irrigations on some of the victims, and allowed them little access to outside medical resources.
The defendants:[d] According to prosecutors, the defendants created an “atmosphere of fear and intimidation” by administering a variety of punishments, including beatings and imprisonment, and threatening victims with “eternal hellfire” if they left UNOI. The defendants reportedly ran “unlicensed and unaccredited schools or 'colleges'” and “sowed fear of disobedience,” inciting others to eliminate anyone who dared to leave, then taking credit for those who did so at a disadvantage. (Related: Authorities Charge Cult Leader After Finding Hundreds of Bodies in Forest)
The victims “endured inhuman and abhorrent conditions,” prosecutors said, with one victim hung upside down over train tracks after he refused to admit stealing food when he was hungry, and another drinking from the toilet when he was thirsty because he was denied clean water.
All those convicted are reportedly scheduled to be sentenced on February 18, 2025, with Majeed facing a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison and having to pay restitution, and the others facing a maximum sentence of five years in prison.
Prosecutors said in a statement they praised the victims' courage in seeking justice and declared the Department of Justice's “unwavering commitment to holding traffickers accountable.”
