Author:
Publication: www.globeandmail.com
Date: October 6, 2002
URL: http://www.globeandmail.com/newsletter/
U.S. authorities may have information
that could exonerate a Canadian sentenced to beheading for a fatal bombing
in Saudi Arabia but they have refused to co-operate with his defence team,
says a lawyer in the case.
American investigators obtained
jurisdiction from the Saudi government to investigate a bombing attack
on a U.S. citizen's vehicle that occurred June 29, more than 18 months
after William Sampson and five others were arrested.
"Various reports claimed that the
bomb used in the June 29 incident was 'similar' to the bomb used in several
of the other bombings, including the bombings which are the subject of
this case," lawyer Michael O'Kane wrote in a letter to the ex-wife of co-accused
James Cottle.
"The American authorities were asked
to share information concerning the June 29 bombing, as such information
could not only lead to the exoneration of the ... defendants but lead to
the cessation of terrorist bombings within the Kingdom.
"They declined to co-operate with
the defence team and it is my understanding that they declined to co-operate
with Her Majesty's [British] government."
Canadian authorities say they were
not aware of the U.S. investigation.
Authorities in the Muslim country
say a string of bombings was linked to black-marketeering in forbidden
alcohol. Mr. Sampson's defenders say it was the work of anti-American extremists
and the government is trying to cover that up.
The Nova Scotia-born Mr. Sampson
faces death at the hands of a system that not only tortured a confession
out of him but denied him other elements of fundamental justice, Mr. O'Kane
says.
He says police in Saudi Arabia have
barely investigated the allegations against the Canadian, three Britons
and a Belgian convicted for bombings that killed a Briton and injured five
other westerners.
"This case has never been fully
investigated," Mr. O'Kane wrote Sept. 29. "The Saudi police report has
only been 'shown,' not given, to the defence team. That means that it cannot
be exhaustively scrutinized.
Mr. O'Kane said authorities have
not tried to determine whether any connections exist between the defendants
or if there's any alibi evidence, telephone records or a money trail connected
to the alleged black market ring.
"We do not even have a complete
transcript of the 'confessions.' The televised confessions were in English,
but with an Arabic voice-over. The complete English text has never been
provided or comprehensively examined."
Mr. O'Kane, a Boston-born assistant
to senior defence lawyer Salah al-Hujailan, also said there has never been
a forensic examination of the explosive devices used in the bombings.
Defence documents filed at Mr. Sampson's
final appeal claim he was forced to confess after police hung him upside
down, kept him awake for more than a week and threatened to harm his family.
They also allege that police slapped
and punched Mr. Sampson while he was in chains and promised to free him
if he confessed to the bombings "in a manner dictated by the investigator."
Mr. Sampson, 43, and five others
were arrested in December 2000 after the series of remote-control bombings;
one man has been released and a final ruling the others' appeal is expected
any day.
When the torture allegations first
surfaced in May 2001 - four months after the confession - doctors in Saudi
Arabia concluded that signs of physical harm were likely the result of
fighting with guards trying to prevent Mr. Sampson from committing suicide.
Saudi authorities rejected claims
of physical abuse and were so put off by Canada's "insult" that Crown Prince
Abdullah postponed a planned visit last spring.
