The Canadian missionary who was held in a Lebanese prison for weeks, accused of spying for Israel, is making his way back to North America.

Bruce Balfour of Calgary left Beirut on Tuesday. He arrived at London's Heathrow Airport in the morning. After almost seven weeks in prison he looked well rested, with no visible signs of ill treatment while in jail. Most of all Balfour looked relieved.

"Just to stand on civilized soil again is a pure joy," he said.

Bruce Balfour

Balfour went to Lebanon at the beginning of July to take part in an evangelical Christian group's efforts to replant cedar trees to the barren Lebanese mountains. He was arrested at the airport and later accused of spying for Israel.

Balfour was held in a prison outside of Beirut. He says the jail was a hell hole where up to 10 men were corralled together in small cells with no working toilet.

On Monday, a military tribunal found him not guilty of spying. But Balfour was convicted of the lesser charge of inciting secular sentiments for trying to promote the Bible, and sentenced to time served.

"It was totally proven false, so they had to invent some way to save face. And let me tell you, they've got no face to save. It's black. There's no justice there, whatsoever, in any way, shape or form from that regime."

Balfour says he's looking forward to seeing friends and family back in Canada.

His sister Laura Mackenzie who lives in near Kamloops, B.C., says she's relieved her brother has been released. But she says while officials at the Canadian consulate in Lebanon helped her brother, government officials in Ottawa did not do enough.

"I think our government should have spoken out loud and clear," she said.

Balfour himself says Canadian officials did a "great job" in working for his release.

When he returns home Balfour says he plans to work to expose the terrible conditions in Lebanese prisons.