Queens DA charges Bangladeshi diplomat with keeping worker a slave

A Queens County grand jury has indicted a foreign diplomat on charges of labor trafficking, assault and other charges for allegedly keeping a foreign national as a virtual slave in the envoy’s Jamaica Estates home for years, Queens district attorney Richard Brown said.

The diplomat is accused of not paying the household worker and using threats mixed with occasional physical harm for years to detain him until the victim managed to escape, according to Brown.

Brown said the defendant is Mohammed Shaheldul Islam, 45, who has limited immunity that pertains specifically to officials actions. Brown said Islam holds the post of deputy consul general of Bangladesh.

Islam was indicted June 12 before Queens Supreme Court Judge Daniel Lewis, who set bail at $50,000 and ordered the defendant to surrender his passport. Islam’s next court date is June 28.

Read more: http://www.timesledger.com/stories/2017/24/diplomat_2017_06_16_q.html