When John Keene and Jim Maes went to Saudi Arabia in August of 1979, they thought their new construction jobs would bring them financial stability.

Six weeks later, Keene and Maes returned to New Mexico 30 pounds lighter and hundreds of dollars poorer.

Like hundreds of other Americans who worked in Saudi Arabia in the late 1970s, Keene and Maes returned with tales of torture and virtual enslavement by their employers.

In a case that will be heard by the U.S. Supreme Court on November 30, another worker, Scott Nelson, will seek redress for torture in Saudi Arabia that left him permanently disabled.

But neither Keene nor Maes' family--Maes died of isocyanate poisoning in 1984--has received any settlement, or indeed assistance, through the U.S. or Saudi governments.

They feel they have taken the issue as high as possible, with little result. In 1985, then-Vice President Bush wrote that their case was a "private contractual arrangement" and thus could not be pursued by the U.S. government.

"I really don't think that it's that private a contract," Keene says in response to the letter. "As a human being, my rights were violated."

'At Their Mercy'

Keene says that they had heard working overseas could be dangerous, so they first asked members of the State Department whether it was safe to work in Saudi Arabia. He says they were assured that working conditions in the Gulf nation were fine.

Soon afterward, Herbert K. Mallard, operations manager for the Saudi Industrial Company, hired Keene and Maes as foremen for an industrial port in Jubail.

The men went to work for Mohammed Al-Zahid, owner of the company and a close business partner of King Fahd of Saudi Arabia.

Immediately after arriving, Keene says, they were given visitors' visas instead of work permits and were prohibited from leaving the country. Mail and phone calls were stopped, and paychecks never came, he says.

Soon, Keene says, their employers began making threats to their safety and lives, sometimes leaving them in the desert for days at a time without any food.

"We were totally at their mercy," said Keene. "If it weren't for some Somalians who had brought a little food we wouldn't have made it."

Although he and Maes were never beaten, Keene says he "feared for [his] life," and wanted to leave the country as soon as possible.