William Sampson

Sampson died of a heart attack at his home in northern England on 28 March 2012. According to Marni Soupcof, writing in the National Post, at the time of his death Canada was still failing Sampson. She criticized Canadian diplomatic officials for asking Sampson about torture when his torturers were present, and failing to realise he couldn't answer candidly. She rejected claims Canada had learned a lesson in being pro-active in protecting its citizens in custody overseas.

In 2007, Sampson was the subject of a National Film Board of Canada-co-produced documentary.

In June 2006 the group's appeal was overturned by the Law Lords on the grounds that Saudi officials are protected in Britain by the State Immunity Act 1978.

In 2005 Sampson published a book about his experience entitled Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison.

On 28 October 2004, Sampson, along with Britons Sandy Mitchell and Les Walker, won a legal battle in London, UK that allows them to sue the men in Saudi Arabia they say tortured them into making the false confessions. In February 2005, a coroner's inquest into the death of Christopher Rodway, held in Trowbridge, concluded that there was no evidence to indicate that Sampson and Mitchell had any involvement in the death, and thus were not involved in the incident for which the Saudi Arabian government had arrested them. In June 2006, a decision handed down at the Law Lords overturned the earlier ruling of the Court of Appeal. Sampson, along with Mitchell and Walker appealed to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the law in Britain, as interpreted in the Lords' decision, is a violation of their rights under Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In August 2003, after 31 months' incarceration in solitary confinement, Sampson and the others were suddenly released, and immediately deported to the UK. Charles, Prince of Wales, Rubin Carter, Justin Rodway, and Canadian members of parliament, Stéphane Dion and Dan McTeague were part of the diplomatic effort to obtain the release. In July 2004, it was revealed that the final release was part of a prisoner exchange for the release of five Saudis from the US prison camp in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba. Officials of both the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (UK) and the State Department (USA) have anonymously confirmed this information. A memorandum between officials of the Belgian Ministry of Foreign Affairs referring to the prisoner exchange adds further evidence of its occurrence. The Belgian government has confirmed both the authenticity of the memo and its knowledge of the exchange, but has denied any direct involvement in the negotiations. The Canadian government refuses to comment on the matter.

In his videotaped confession, broadcast internationally on 5 February 2001, Sampson said:

On the morning of 17 December 2000, Sampson was taken at gunpoint by police as he left his home in Riyadh on his way to work. He was taken to al-Ha'ir Prison where regular sessions of physical and psychological torture immediately began. Among other things, Sampson says he was raped by two men and repeatedly beaten, foot whipped, and deprived of sleep.

He worked in biochemical research and pharmaceutical marketing prior to moving to Riyadh in 1998 to work as a marketing consultant with the Saudi Industrial Development Fund, a government development bank.

William Sampson ((1959-04-17 ) 17 April 1959 – 28 March 2012) was a dual British and Canadian national who was arrested in Saudi Arabia on 17 December 2000 on a variety of charges including terrorism, espionage and murder. He was imprisoned and tortured for two years and seven months, and finally released and permitted to leave Saudi Arabia, along with several of his co-accused, on 8 August 2003.