Posted on 12/13/2002 2:02:11 PM PST by swarthyguy
OTTAWA - There's growing frustration among supporters of William Sampson, the man who is facing the death penalty in Saudi Arabia, over the way Canada is handling his case.
William Sampson Sampson was arrested nearly two years ago in Riyadh and accused of being involved in a bootlegging operation that mounted a series of attacks against Westerners.
He confessed on Saudi television. He was sentenced to beheading.
But there have been allegations Saudi officials tortured Sampson into that confession.
Sampson's father says the Canadian government hasn't been any help. "He's completely innocent," said James Sampson speaking from his home in White Rock, B.C. "He's been imprisoned, beaten, tortured and they've done nothing."
Saudi officials claim they are above using torture, and Canada says there is no proof.
But Department of Foreign Affairs officials know of one other Canadian arrested in Riyadh on similar charges who claims the Saudis tortured him into making a false confession.
"The information we have, which we presented to Saudi authorities in 2001, came first-hand from another Canadian who had been detained for almost 70 days in the spring of 2001 and this was first-hand information. We considered that information to be sufficiently credible," said Gar Pardy, with the Department Foreign Affairs.
Saudi officials deny the accusation.
"There's all sorts of speculation that surrounds this and as public officials we are very alive to that level of speculation," said Pardy.
Although Canada has its suspicions it is stuck in a diplomatic face-off.
Prime Minister Jean Chrétien admitted as much in a letter he sent to Sampson's mother earlier this year. In it, the prime minister assured her Canada was doing everything it could, but when raising the issue of torture, "we must weigh very carefully any public criticism or intervention against the very real possibility that it might do more harm than good to William's case."
William Sampson refuses to meet with Canadian consular officials in Riyadh.
Written by CBC News Online staff
Isn't this puzzling?
Not necessarily, if his jailers' line is: accept a visit from your consular officials, and we'll torture you *worse* afterwards.
What, pray tell, could be worse than the situation he is already in? How could intervention hurt?
Of course, America let the House of Saud kill 3,000 civilians right on our home soil, so we're not much better in that regard.
That could well be a willfully false cover story by the Canadian government. The statement by the victim's father supports this theory.
And it isn't just the Canadian government. A friend told me about a baseball game in Montreal between the Expos and the Baltimore Orioles when Earl Weaver was the Orioles' manager. The fans got noisy so Weaver went out on the field and yelled at them to shut up. They purportedly complied while staring at Weaver in fear. My friend quoted an Oriole player saying at the time, "These people sure aren't Americans."
I'm beginning to wonder if Canada has become a failing state.
BUMP!
Why are we letting this administration get away with a cover-up of the crime of the century??
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