SAN DIEGO (AP) — Lawyers representing four Indonesian fishermen who say they were beaten and trapped on vessels that were part of the global supply chain that provided tuna to Bumble Bee Seafoods filed a lawsuit Wednesday against the canned seafood giant.
It is believed to be the first such case of forced labor at sea brought against a U.S. seafood company, the men’s lawyer, Agnieszka Fryszman, said.
U.S. companies that benefit from forced labor and undercut other businesses need to be held accountable, Fryszman said.
“What you see is really devastating,” she said.
The lawsuit accuses the company headquartered in San Diego of violating the Trafficking Victims Protection Act. The law allows foreigners who suffered from human trafficking to sue U.S. businesses that knew or should have known that they were profiting from forced labor.
Bumble Bee said in an email to The Associated Press that it does not comment on pending litigation.
The fisherman are all from villages in Indonesia and worked for longline vessels owned by Chinese companies from which Bumble Bee sourced its albacore tuna, according to the lawsuit. They say they were beaten regularly by their captains.
One fisherman named Akhmad, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, said he was hit by a metal hook and forced to work even after being injured on the job by a load of fish that gashed open his leg to the bone. Another fisherman, Syafi’i, said he received no medical care for severe burns and was ordered to return to work to pay to eat. All the men said they asked to go home and even tried to go on strike on board, according to the lawsuit.
The boats stayed out at sea while supply ships provided provisions and collected the catch. The men were strapped with debt from food bills and other fees and the threat of fines if they quit, Fryszman said.
Bumble Bee had been warned of inhumane conditions in its supply chain over the years, Fryszman said. In 2020, accounts of abusive conditions and forced labor prompted the U.S. to halt imports from a Taiwan-based fishing vessel that reportedly supplied the global tuna trading company that acquired Bumble Bee Seafoods that same year. None of these fishermen worked on that vessel.
The lawsuit seeks compensation for their unpaid wages and abuse, Fryszman said. The men are also seeking systemic changes, she said. For example, they want companies like Bumble Bee to require in their contracts that the vessels in their supply chain bring in their catch rather than remain out at sea, and have medical care on board and Wi-Fi service for workers to get help.
The global fishing industry has been plagued by labor abuses for years. Congress approved legislation providing the U.S. government with additional authority to crack down on forced labor in 2016 after an Associated Press investigation found that seafood caught by slaves in Southeast Asia was ending up in restaurants and markets around the United States.
In 2018, Fryszman represented two Indonesian fishermen who said they were enslaved on an American fishing boat. They settled their lawsuit for an undisclosed amount against the vessel’s California-based owner seven years after escaping and receiving special U.S. visas as victims of human trafficking.
FILE - This Oct. 15, 2012 file photo shows the front of the Bumble Bee tuna processing plant in Santa Fe Springs, Calif. (AP Photo/Nick Ut, file)
JOLIET, Ill. (AP) — An Illinois landlord who killed a 6-year-old Muslim boy and severely injured the boy's mother in a brutal hate-crime attack days after the war in Gaza began was sentenced Friday to 53 years in prison.
Joseph Czuba, 73, was found guilty in February of murder, attempted murder and hate-crime charges in the death of Wadee Alfayoumi and the wounding of his mother, Hanan Shaheen.
Judge Amy Bertani-Tomczak sentenced Czuba to 30 years in the boy's death and another 20 years consecutively for the attack on Shaheen. The judge also sentenced him to three years imprisonment for hate crimes. The length of the sentence makes it all but certain he will die behind bars.
Czuba did not speak during the sentencing. His attorney, George Lenard, didn't immediately respond to an email from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The boy's great-uncle, Mohmoud Yousef, was the only family member who spoke during the hearing. He said that no matter the sentence length it wouldn't be enough. The boy's parents had plans for him and Czuba robbed them of that, he said.
Yousef asked Czuba to explain why he attacked the boy and his mother, asking him what news he heard that provoked him, but Czuba did not respond, the Chicago Tribune reported.
Czuba targeted them in October 2023 because of their Islamic faith and as a response to the war between Israel and Hamas.
Evidence at trial included harrowing testimony from Shaheen and her frantic 911 call, along with bloody crime scene photos and police video. Jurors deliberated less than 90 minutes before handing in a verdict.
The family had been renting rooms in Czuba’s home in Plainfield, about 40 miles (64 kilometers) from Chicago when the attack happened.
Central to prosecutors' case was harrowing testimony from the boy’s mother, who said Czuba attacked her before moving on to her son, insisting they had to leave because they were Muslim. Prosecutors also played the 911 call and showed police footage. Czuba's wife, Mary, whom he has since divorced, also testified for the prosecution, saying he had become agitated about the Israel-Hamas war, which had erupted days earlier.
Police said Czuba pulled a knife from a holder on a belt and stabbed the boy 26 times, leaving the knife in the child's body. Some of the bloody crime scene photos were so explicit that the judge agreed to turn television screens showing them away from the audience, which included Wadee's relatives.
“He could not escape,” Michael Fitzgerald, a Will County assistant state’s attorney, told jurors at trial. “If it wasn’t enough that this defendant killed that little boy, he left the knife in the little boy’s body.”
The jury deliberated for 90 minutes before returning a verdict.
The attack renewed fears of anti-Muslim discrimination and hit particularly hard in Plainfield and surrounding suburbs, which have a large and established Palestinian community. Wadee's funeral drew large crowds and Plainfield officials have dedicated a park playground in his honor.
Shaheen had more than a dozen stab wounds and it took her weeks to recover.
She said there were no prior issues in the two years she rented from the Czubas, even sharing a kitchen and a living room. Then after the start of the war, Czuba told her that they had to move out because Muslims were not welcome. He later confronted Shaheen and attacked her, holding her down, stabbing her and trying to break her teeth.
“He told me ‘You, as a Muslim, must die,’” said Shaheen, who testified at trial in English and Arabic though a translator.
Police testified that officers found Czuba outside the house, sitting on the ground with blood on his body and hands.
Separately, lawsuits have been filed over the boy’s death, including by his father, Odai Alfayoumi, who is divorced from Shaheen and was not living with them. The U.S. Department of Justice also launched a federal hate crimes investigation.
Yousef told reporters after the hearing that Czuba was a grandfather figure to Wadee and the family doesn’t understand what “fake news” Czuba may have heard about the war in Gaza that caused him to attack the boy and his mother. People need to understand Muslims before judging them, he said.
“Some people are bringing this war to this country,” Yousef said. “We cannot do that. We can’t bring the war here. We cannot bring hatred to this country . . . we need that to stop.”
Odai Al Fayoumi, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of Czuba outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Will County Prosecutor Christopher Koch exits the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Joseph Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Odai Al Fayoumi, left, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, walks out of the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Odai Al Fayoumi, left, father of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, walks out of the Will County Courthouse after the sentencing of Czuba in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Mahmoud Yousef, grandfather of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
Mahmoud Yousef, grandfather of Wadee Al Fayoumi, who was murdered by Joseph Czuba in 2023, speaks to the media after the sentencing of Czuba outside the Will County Courthouse in Joliet, Ill., Friday, May 2, 2025. (Pat Nabong /Chicago Sun-Times via AP)
FILE - Wadee Alfayoumi's father, Oday Al Fayoume, seated right, and his uncle Mahmoud Yousef attend a vigil for Wadee at Prairie Activity and Recreation center in Plainfield, Ill., Oct. 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Nam Y. Huh, File)
FILE - Joseph Czuba, 71, stands before Circuit Judge Dave Carlson for his arraignment at the Will County, Ill., courthouse, Oct. 30, 2023, in Joliet, Ill. (AP Photo/Charles Rex Arbogast, File)
