A GROUP of Britons, including two local men, jailed for alleged involvement in a car bombing campaign in Saudi Arabia are to meet lawyers to discuss possible legal action.
Saudi politicians yesterday denied that the men were tortured during their imprisonment amid reports some of the prisoners were about to sue the Saudi government.
Les Walker, from Neston, south Wirral, was among a group of Britons convicted of carrying out a spate of car bombings which led to the death of Christopher Rodway in November 2000 in the Saudi capital Riyadh.
Another local man, Billy Sampson, who has cousins in Liverpool, but now lives in Glasgow, was also jailed and had been sentenced to be publicly beheaded.
They recently returned to the UK after being granted clemency.
Shortly after their arrest in December 2000, the six Britons appeared on Saudi state television to confess.
They later withdrew those confessions, and the men's relatives have always said the charges were trumped up and that the bombings were the work of Islamic fundamentalists targeting Westerners.
Many people, including human rights organisations, questioned the authenticity of the admissions amid claims of torture, claims repeated by some of the men since their return to Britain.
Prominent Saudi dissidents claimed that the Saudi authorities had put together a financial package, possibly as much as £1m each, to prevent the former captives from suing or speaking publicly about their ordeal.
The Saudis claimed the men were involved in a feud over bootleg drink.
In a radio interview yesterday, Adel al-Jubeir, foreign affairs adviser to the Crown Prince was lah, was asked whether the Britons were tortured while in prison.
He told the programme: "We deny that."
Asked if the men had been released for political reasons, he responded: "They were pardoned. When the Kind of Saudi Arabia pardons people it should not be a big deal. We are damned if we do and damned if we don't."
He was asked whether the Saudi regime now accepted that the car bombing might have been the work of al-Qaida.
He added: "No. What happened is there was a series of explosions that were perpetrated by rival gangs who were involved in smuggling alcohol.
"For people to think that Saudi Arabia tried to pin charges on foreigners in order to hide a terrorism problem is preposterous."
However, Canadian MP Dan McTeague last night called for a formal inquiry into the allegations on behalf of Mr Sampson, who holds a Canadian passport.
He added: "I have little doubt that the harm suffered by Mr Sampson was at the hands of the prison guards."
