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THE fifth estate: A State of Denial
The Sampson Story> Printer Version

Broadcast December 11th, 2002

Much of Saudi Arabia is a desert wasteland.

A Luxurious Life
Saudi Arabia is two million square kilometres of sand and contradictions.

A desert wasteland wraps around the modern metropolis of Riyadh where austere piety co-exists with ostentatious consumption. In three decades the population has tripled to 21 million. The once nomadic bedouins now play host to more than six million foreigners there to make some quick money.

Downtown Riyadh is luxurious.

Never allowed to forget that they don't belong, the westerners gather in bars socializing in ways the locals frown on publicly. Ron Jones, an accountant from Scotland lived in Saudi Arabia for six months. "It was luxurious. You didn't need to go out of the compound. It had swimming pools, Jacuzzis, steam rooms, gyms, restaurants, gardens ... the lifestyle was sumptuous." It was a lifestyle shared by Canadian Bill Sampson, a biochemist who had been working in Saudi Arabia since 1996.

Read more about Ron Jones experiences in Saudi Arabia

It was a violent death that didn't make any sense - except to Saudi Arabia's secret police. It wasn't the first, nor the last, mysterious bomb to target an innocent Westerner. The Saudis believed there was a war going on among the bootleggers who supplied the bars frequented by Westerners.

One of the first to realize that something sinister was happening in Saudi Arabia was Bill Sampson's father, James. "I was trying to contact him. But I'd phone his home and the phone would just ring and ring and ring and ring." Sampson had planned to visit friends in England just before Christmas 2000 and when he didn't show up his family and friends grew concerned.

Read other foreigners accounts of Saudi prison.

Bill Sampson along with six other Westerners had been accused of being part of a plot to murder Christopher Rodway. They had all vanished into Saudi Arabia's impenetrable justice system.

The TV Confession
James Sampson was shocked when he saw a videotaped confession on a British newscast on February 4, 2001. It was the first time he'd seen his son since he disappeared and there was very little familiar about the haggard man he saw on the TV screen, "He looked downtrodden and beaten...he'd been taking a lot of ill treatment to get him to look like that."

He along with two other Westerners - an unlikely band of terrorists - all had confessed their crimes on Saudi TV. Prince Naif, the interior minister declared them hit-men for warring western bootleggers and called down God's wrath to punish them, "may the ill will of those who conspire against us rebound back to them."

Kelvin Hawkins was a bar owner in Riyadh until he was arrested .

Another Car Bomb
Kelvin Hawkins once ran the popular Celtic Corner in Riyadh. He says the idea of a war among the pub owners - most of whom were personal friends - was unbelievable. "There was no turf war at all...if anybody ran out of alcohol then the other bars would help out. It was purely a social scene, there was no animosity at all."

Hawkins himself was swept away by the Saudi justice system when four patrons left his bar in a booby trapped Jeep only six days after the Christopher Rodway incident. Nobody died this time, partly because Belgian paramedic Raaf Schyvens was nearby and administered first aid until the police arrived.

Hawkins was accused of making the bomb and thrown in prison. That's where he confessed to knowing Bill Sampson and the other Westerners. But he was relatively lucky and was released a year later.

A Death Sentence
But seven other foreigners, including Bill Sampson and the Belgian paramedic, weren't so fortunate. There was a trial they couldn't attend, evidence they never heard and finally a sentence. Eight years for Schyvens, the paramedic and death by beheading for Sampson and a Scot named Sandy Mitchell.

Read more about the Saudi justice system.

For the past two years Bill Sampson has been living in Al Hayer prison in a white, padded cell with fluorescent lights blazing overhead awaiting his death sentence.

See photos of a re-created Saudi prison cell

William Sampson, a cousin living near Liverpool, England has been lobbying the British and Canadian governments to help have him released. "I was absolutely stunned when I first saw him on TV. The bags under his eyes looked like he hadn't sleep in a month." The family fears for his health. There have been reports that - like so many others - Bill Sampson has been tortured. A 42 year old rugged outdoorsman, he has already had two cardiac episodes in the Saudi prison.

A Visit with his Son
" Six months after his arrest, James Sampson was allowed a visit with his son, "He looked terrible, he looked like hell." The two men calmly discussed family matters determined not to let the Saudis see their fear. "What could I do, upset him more by seeing me break down? What did he want to do, break down in front of the guards? No, they haven't managed to do it yet...and he isn't going to allow a visit by his father break him down."

Peter Goldsmith and his wife had an incident with Saudi police.

The First Arrest
Bill Sampson's arrest on December 16 2000 wasn't the first encounter he had had with the Saudi police. Two months earlier he was present when British couple, Peter and Annie Goldsmith, were arrested. The Muttawa, a vigilante police force - accountable to no authority but God - found some alcohol in their villa. It was a large amount but Peter Goldsmith claims it was for their own personal use, "100 Litres sounds a lot but when you've got 30 - 40 people who can turn up, it doesn't last long."

Sampson was released a few days later, but the Goldsmiths were kept in custody for six weeks. During that period, Bull Sampson became their lifeline. "Bill brought me some clothes, bottled water and provided me with some money...he was phoning various people to try and get the situation resolved."

The Escape Caper
He also played Good Samaritan to Gary O'Nions who ran a number of lively illegal establishments like the Empire Club. The parties at the Empire were legendary until the fun ended in May 2000. Mary O'Nions remembered the day the religious police arrived. "They just came in droves. It looked like a band of Osama Bin Laden. They knocked his teeth loose, they fractured his ribs. He was actually terrified they were going to kill him."

Mary O'Nions wonders, "The only two people in all this who've been sentenced to death have been the two people that have helped Gary to escape."

Confessions through Torture
Most Westerners believe the men were tortured into making their confession on Saudi TV. Even their conservative Saudi lawyers have filed an appeal, "We have stated in our appeal that they were subject to torture. In an extensive way."

Read more about punishment in Saudi prisons.

Sampson and Mitchell have since repudiated their confessions - but not the Belgian paramedic sentenced to eight years. His confessions hangs like a death warrant over his friends.

The Private War
In the spring of 2001, Bill Sampson declared a private war on his captors. Isolated in his jail cell he has refused to see visitors. Saudi officials complain that he has become abusive, insulting the guards and cursing the Prophet, Mohammed. He's also been hospitalized with various injuries like a chipped vertebra, a damaged foot and abrasions. His lawyer states that, "Most of his problems result from his attitude and his stubbornness and sometimes his rudeness in dealing with the people he is with in the jail."

But to his relatives the reports of his obnoxious behaviour are encouraging. "I feel that if Bill was more compliant towards his captors, he would feel as if he'd conceded his guilt...if he's innocent he's not going to be something he isn't to better his predicament", says James Sampson.

James Sampson hasn't seen his son for a year and a half. During the last visit he was told not to bother coming back. "He said, I don't want to see you here again. He said, I'm going to be executed so there's no point."

Saudi Arabia has grown rich because of it's oil fields.

Saudi Arabia, an Ally
Today the most powerful of the princes in Saudi Arabia, Crown Prince Abdullah, holds the fate of Bill Sampson in his hands. He is the only man who can legally overturn Sampson's death sentence.

Saudi Arabia and its royal princes have become fabulously wealthy because they control much of the world's oil production. And they've been traditionally friendly towards the west. They see themselves as allies of the West and have gone to great extremes to show Western governments that there is no danger in Saudi Arabia.

Enemies in the Kingdom
But extremist groups like Al Queda have been moving closer to the Saudi mainstream and openly demonstrating against the corruption of the royal family. Crude attacks - like car bombs - have been occurring against Westerners unabated even though sixteen foreigners are already in prison.

Saudi Arabia is home to a growing number of Muslim extremists.

Some people believe that the jailed foreigners are scapegoats selected to conceal evidence of a growing political crisis. Dissident Dr. Al Fagih, "The regime has been extremely successful in deceiving the west including America. That it is very stable, that is has eradicated all jihad groups, there is no danger...but according to our information the Saudi authorities know very well that there are those small jihad groups who maybe affiliated with Al Qaeda."

Still, Foreign Minister Sa'ud al Faisal remains resolute in blaming the Westerners and insists that their confessions were not extracted under torture, "I know how my government is being run...I know all officers in the government are above torture and things like that."

The Other Canadian
But Bill Sampson wasn't the only Canadian being tortured in a Saudi jail. Another Canadian was arrested with accountant Ron Jones and accused of bombing a downtown Riyadh bookstore. Keen to avoid another diplomatic crisis Canadian officials spirited him out of the country and then told him to lay low and stay quiet. Having survived the justice system in Saudi Arabia he refused an interview with the fifth estate, fearing reprisals from his own government.

A Growing Controversy
Canadian politicians have been careful to keep relations with Saudi Arabia cordial. Meanwhile Saudi diplomats monitor the growing controversy reassuring Canadians that they don't really intend to execute Bill Sampson. But they continue to insist on his guilt. Ambassador Mohammed al Husseini, "If he's innocent he would have been released a long time ago. But there is still a question mark. He's under investigation."

Meanwhile there is a growing outrage in the Canadian media and among advocates for the wrongly convicted. James Sampson, "That is a hard mountain, when you wake up alone every morning, when you're alone all day, everyday, and you have nothing to do, nothing to think about, nobody to talk to...He survived this long, but I don't know how long he will survive."

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the fifth estate : A State of Denial

The Bill Sampson Story - Inside a Saudi Prison - Justice in Saudi Arabia
Resources - Update

Broadcast December 11, 2002 on CBC News: the fifth estate
UPDATED in October 2004

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