Canadian Foreign Affairs Minister John Manley said Monday that Ottawa was actively investigating reports that a Canadian prisoner might have been tortured in a Saudi Arabian prison, according to a report published by National Post Online.
"We have impressed on Saudi authorities, both here and in Riyadh, the need to respect international norms concerning the treatment of detainees...and will continue to do so," Manley was quoted as saying in a statement issued from his office in Ottawa.
Reynald Doiron, a spokesman for the Department of Foreign Affairs in Ottawa, said William Sampson had been visited in hospital Monday by Canada's ambassador to Saudi Arabia and a doctor selected by Canadian consular officials.
Doiron said no details on the visit were immediately available, but that he expected the ambassador to file a report Tuesday or Wednesday.
"We have informed Saudi officials that we hold them responsible for Mr. Sampson's safety and that we expect him to be treated in accordance with international standards for prisoners set out in the Geneva Convention," said Manley.
"We will continue to pursue this case with senior Saudi authorities until we have satisfactory answers."
Sampson, 43, being held without charge in connection with a fatal bombing in Saudi Arabia last year, was admitted to hospital May 17 with suspicious injuries.
He is suffering from a crushed vertebra, trauma to his feet and scratches on his wrists, said Dr. Martin Mayfield, the National Post reported Monday.
Saudi authorities told the family that Sampson's injuries resulted from a suicide attempt.
But Mayfield, a physician and a Sampson family friend in Britain, does not believe it.
"I don't know how a man could do that to himself in a prison cell," Mayfield told the newspaper.
The Post quoted an anonymous source as saying Canadian consular officials had privately expressed concern that Sampson might have been beaten by his jailers.
In question period in the House of Commons Monday, Monte Solberg, Alliance member for Medicine Hat, asked Manley's secretary, Denis Paradis, about a scheduled visit by Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah to Ottawa next month and what was being done in the interim.
Paradis responded that Ottawa will continue to pressure Saudi authorities to ensure that Sampson is well treated while awaiting results of Monday's medical examination.
Solberg pressed on and asked Paradis if Ottawa was prepared to cancel the visit and recall Canada's ambassador "if the Saudis are not prepared to meet the most basic standards for fair treatment of Mr. Sampson while in their custody."
Paradis said officials would wait on results of the medical examination before deciding what steps would be taken.
Following reports from departmental officials in Riyadh, Manley called in the Saudi Arabian ambassador to Canada on Thursday to express shock at the allegations that Sampson's rights were being violated.
He also asked the ambassador to ensure that Sampson be provided with daily consular access, that he be examined by a medical professional designated by Canada, that he be allowed to discuss his condition and situation openly and that the incident be fully investigated by Saudi authorities, with the results provided to Canadian officials.
Manley noted that the embassy in Riyadh had raised the matter with Saudi Arabia's deputy minister of the interior and would be following up on the incident with him and other senior Saudi officials.
Sampson has been in custody since December after being accused, along with several other foreign nationals working in Riyadh, of participating in two car bombings last November that killed a British citizen and injured five other people – Albawaba.com
© 2001 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
