William Sampson (author)
| William Sampson | |
|---|---|
| Born |
17 April 1959 Middleton, Nova Scotia, Canada |
| Died | 28 March 2012 (aged 52) United Kingdom |
| Pen name | Bill |
| Occupation | Biochemist, writer |
| Genre | non-fiction |
William Sampson (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.
In 2005 Sampson published a book about his experience entitled Confessions of an Innocent Man: Torture and Survival in a Saudi Prison.
Sampson was born at Soldiers Memorial Hospital in Middleton, Nova Scotia, Canada. The son of a British father and a Canadian mother, Sampson spent periods in Canada, the United Kingdom and Singapore. At age 16 he joined the Seaforth Highlanders militia in Vancouver. He stayed on for 18 months. He held an MBA from Edinburgh University and a PhD in biochemistry.
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.
On the morning of 17 December 2000, Sampson was snatched 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 began immediately. Among other things, Sampson says he was raped by two men and repeatedly beaten, foot whipped, and deprived of sleep.
After six initial days of torture largely conducted by three men, Ibrahim al-Dali (officer of the Mabaheth, the Saudi Arabian internal intelligence service), Khaled al-Saleh (officer of the Mabaheth) and a third unnamed man Sampson nicknamed "the Spiv," Sampson confessed and subsequently provided both written and videotaped confessions; he was sentenced to death by al-haad, a form of execution in which the victim is restrained and decapitated. The torture continued in various forms until his release.
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