Freed Scot thanks MP for 'tireless campaign'

Published on Wednesday 13 August 2003 01:00

A SCOT who claims that he was tortured into confessing to a terrorist bombing in Saudi Arabia yesterday said "thank you" to those who supported him through his ordeal.

Sandy Mitchell spoke four days after he was released from a Saudi jail, where he served two and a half years for a crime he says he did not commit.

Mr Mitchell thanked Tony Blair, the Prime Minister, Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, and Derek Plumley, the British ambassador in Saudi Arabia, for their support.

He also praised John Lyons, the Labour MP for Strathkelvin and Bearsden, whose constituency covers Mr Mitchell’s UK base of Kirkintilloch.

Mr Mitchell is currently in Halifax, West Yorkshire, where he was reunited with his wife, Noi, and son Matthew, four, at the home of his sister. In a statement issued through Mr Lyons’s office, the freed hospital technician said he would always be grateful to the Scottish press, television and radio for their support and solidarity during his imprisonment.

"I want to put on record my heart-felt thanks to Tony Blair, Jack Straw and Derek Plumley for continually raising our case at every opportunity."

He said he would travel to Scotland to meet John Lyons, "who has never doubted my innocence and has campaigned tirelessly inside and outside the House of Commons for my freedom".

Mr Mitchell and five other Britons were convicted of carrying out car bombings which led to the death of Christopher Rodway in November 2000 in the Saudi capital, Riyadh.

Shortly after their arrest in December 2000, the six men appeared to confess to the crimes on Saudi television. They later withdrew the confessions, and their supporters have claimed the bombings were the work of Islamic fundamentalists targeting Westerners. The Saudis had claimed the men were involved in a feud over bootleg drink.

The Britons returned to the UK on Friday after they were granted clemency.

Yesterday, Mr Lyons said he was convinced that they were innocent. He said: "I think Sandy and the others were simply in the wrong place at the wrong time. The bombing campaigns continued while these men were in jail.

"There is no information which leads me to believe any scenario other than that an internal organisation within Saudi Arabia was to blame for the bombing these men were accused of."

Mr Lyons said he would support Mr Mitchell’s hopes to sue the Saudi Arabian government.