 On February 25, 2011, he was re-sentenced from 28 to eight years for his good behavior in prison.Al-Turki maintains his innocence and blames anti-Muslim sentiment for the charges that led to his 2006 conviction and sentence in a case that has strained relations between the U.S. and the Saudi government.Born and raised in Saudi Arabia, Homaidan Ali Al-Turki moved to the United States with his family in 1995, after receiving an academic scholarship from the Imam Muhammad ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh to pursue a PhD in linguistics from the University of Colorado at Boulder.