Canadian William Samson                                           Alexander Mitchell

Held for months without consular assistance or access to any legal representation
Alexander Mitchell and William Samson are forced to confess on Saudi National television.

Briton faces beheading after bomb   'confession'
By Anton La Guardia in Riyadh, Gerald Butt in Nicosia and David Millward
Tues Feb 6, 2001- London - Electronic Telegraph
 

                 The Foreign Office was last night seeking urgent talks with the Saudi
                 authorities over a Briton facing the threat of public beheading for his alleged
                 part in a fatal car bombing.

                 Derek Plumbly, the British ambassador in
                 Riyadh, was trying to clarify the position of
                 Alexander "Sandy" Mitchell who was
                 shown on Saudi television on Sunday night
                 admitting to carrying out the bombing.
                 Another Briton, Christopher Rodway, 47,
                 died in the blast on November 17, and his
                 wife, Janice, 50, was injured.

                 Mr Mitchell joined William Sampson, a
                 Canadian, and Raf Schyvens, a Belgian, in
                 the broadcast where the men apparently
                 confessed to their roles in that outrage and in a second blast five days later,
                 which injured two Britons and an Irish citizen.

                 The British embassy was given no warning that Mr Mitchell - who was one of
                 five Britons being held in connection with alleged breaches of strict Saudi
                 alcohol laws - was about to confess to a crime which could lead to his public
                 execution. If Mr Mitchell is convicted, his fate could rest in the hands of
                 Christopher Rodway's widow and his father, Jeremy, from Wilton, near
                 Salisbury, Wiltshire.

                 Last night Mr Rodway, 69, supported the death penalty for those proved to
                 have been involved in his son's death. He said: "I know that may upset a lot of
                 people. But I have always believed in an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth. I
                 don't necessarily want it to be as gruesome as beheading but if that's the way
                 they do it there then so be it.

                 "You can't go around blasting people to pieces, no matter which country you're
                 in, and get away with it." He said he would not accept "diya" - blood money - an
                 alternative offered under Shari'a, Islamic law.

                 In Riyadh, Prince Nayef, the Saudi interior minister, told the local paper that the
                 men would be tried according to Shari'a law, which applies the death penalty for
                 convicted murderers, rapists and drug smugglers. He said: "We don't have a
                 judicial system other than Shari'a."

                 The prince added that the authorities knew "the source" of the explosives, but
                 declined to give more details "in the interests of the investigation". He said the
                 men would be put on trial once the authorities had completed their investigation
                 into the blasts.

                 The televised confession is an ominous turn of events, suggesting that the Saudi
                 authorities have decided on the men's guilt even before a trial is held. The
                 prince made clear that the Saudis would not bow to Western pressure to spare
                 the three men the full force of local law.

                 The only chain that seems to link Mr Mitchell with both the victims of the
                 bombings and five other Britons, under arrest on alcohol charges, is that they
                 knew each other. The intention of the Saudi authorities appears to be to portray
                 them as part of a vendetta involving members of a Western alcohol racket. But
                 British expatriates dispute the Saudi version of events. They say there was no
                 evidence of friction between those killed and those arrested, including Mr
                 Mitchell.

                 Anyone wishing to inflict harm on a rival would only need to tip off the police.
                 Some believe that the truth behind the arrests is being buried behind the
                 televised confessions. A Briton said last night: "It is the sort of stunt Saddam
                 and his bunch would employ."

                 THREE men, from Britain, Canada and Belgium, appeared on Saudi Arabian
                 television last night allegedly confessing to two bombings in the capital, Riyadh,
                 last November in which a British engineer was killed.

                 According to an Arabic voice-over, a man identified as Alexander Mitchell said
                 he had been ordered to carry out the first bombing, which killed Christopher
                 Rodway, 47, from Gloucestershire, who worked at the military hospital in
                 Riyadh. His wife, Jane, 50, was slightly hurt by the boobytrap car bomb.

                 The voice-over said: "I confirm and confess that I received orders to carry out
                 the bombing here in Riyadh on November 17 against Christopher Rodway," .

                 A Canadian, identified as William Sampson, was said to have helped him. He
                 added that he, the Canadian and the Belgian were involved in the second
                 bombing on November 22. Two nurses at the hospital were hurt, with two
                 British men.

                 Prince Nayef bin Abdel-Aziz, the Saudi Arabian interior minister, announced
                 the arrests of the three earlier yesterday and said nine other people of various
                 nationalities were being questioned. He said: "No Saudi has been arrested."

                 Last December, the Saudi authorities announced the arrest of an American,
                 Michael Sedlak, in connection with the case.

                 The interior minister gave no indication of who ordered the bombings, or the
                 motive. The attacks originally prompted fears of a campaign by Islamic militants
                 against British expatriates. But the fact that the victims were from the same
                 hospital has added credence to Saudi suggestions that they were part of a
                 personal vendetta.

                 The Foreign Office said it knew of the broadcast but could not confirm the
                 details. It was seeking "official confirmation" of the allegations.

                                Doubts over Prince's visit to Saudi Arabia

                 A VISIT to Saudi Arabia by the Prince of Wales later this month was "under
                 review" last night amid controversy over the televised confession by a Briton
                 accused of carrying out two bombings last year. The Prince had been planning
                 to go to Riyadh to open an exhibition of paintings by a member of the Saudi
                 royal family, Prince Khaled.

                 They have jointly published a book which includes Prince Charles's
                 watercolours of the Asir region. But as human rights groups protested at the
                 lack of consular access and legal representation for Alexander Mitchell, the
                 accused bomber, and other detained Britons, senior Foreign Office officials
                 were debating whether the trip should go ahead.

                 A spokesman for the Prince said "no date has been announced", leaving room
                 for the Government to postpone the trip if the bomb affair should escalate into a
                 diplomatic crisis. An insider said: "It depends how the cards fall."

                                       Death penalty dilemma

                 FOUR bombings and a televised confession have lifted the lid on a murky world
                 of alcohol dealing and illicit boozing among Saudi Arabia's expatriate
                 community.

                 The white tribe of Arabia has taken a vow of silence. Nobody knows anything,
                 nobody talks. The Sicilians would be impressed by such ironclad omerta, and
                 they know a thing or two about smuggling. In Saudi Arabia, the illicit trade
                 revolves around alcohol. And the business is so lucrative that scores are being
                 settled violently.

                 Four explosions in three months killed Christopher Rodway, a Briton, partly
                 blinded another and injured four more Britons and an Irish woman. An Irishman
                 escaped death when a bomb under his car failed to explode. Last Sunday, three
                 Westerners - Alexander Mitchell, a Briton, William Sampson, a Canadian, and
                 Ralf Skivers, a Belgian - were paraded on Saudi television to "confess" planting
                 the first two bombs in Riyadh.

                 The account of how they planted a radio-controlled bomb in a car on Nov 17,
                 killing Christopher Rodway and wounding his wife, and a second device under
                 another car less than a week later, injuring four people, was far from complete.
                 It gave no hint of a motive, but made vague references to receiving orders from
                 abroad.

                 The seriousness of their position was unmistakable. The men had all but
                 condemned themselves to death by beheading under Saudi Arabia's Islamic
                 sharia code. The case has lifted the lid on a murky world of alcohol dealing and
                 illicit boozing among the tens of thousands of expatriates, particularly Britons,
                 working in the kingdom.

                 One American veteran in Riyadh said: "It reminds me of Chicago in the
                 Twenties when gangs of bootleggers shot one another during Prohibition. Until
                 these bombings happened I had not realised the extent of illegal drinking,
                 especially among the British. I am told there are 47 illegal pubs in Riyadh."

                 Despite the strategic relationship with Britain, the fat defence and civil
                 engineering contracts, with the RAF using Saudi bases to patrol the skies over
                 Iraq, the authorities in Riyadh are taking a hard line on the affair. The Saudis
                 did not admit holding the key suspect, Mr Mitchell, for three weeks. Since his
                 confession, they have failed to keep a promise to grant renewed consular
                 access to him.

                 Yet for a country that a decade ago took three days to admit that Kuwait had
                 been invaded, the Saudis have been open about announcing the bomb
                 explosions. British diplomats in Riyadh, by contrast, have been less than
                 informative. By mutual consent, Westerners and Saudis live separate lives. The
                 Western housing compounds in Riyadh have long been places of refuge from
                 the country's rigid Wahhabi strain of Islam.

                 Western women walk freely without the black abbaya robe and drive their own
                 cars. The religious police, the Mutawa, do not enter. At one compound, the
                 security notice at the gate makes clear that Saudis are not to be admitted in "in
                 the current situation".

                 The compounds provide perfect cover for illegal drinking. Villas and communal
                 halls have been turned into pubs. Some compounds dominated by Saudi
                 Arabia's 23,000 Britons are well-known for their drinking culture. The "pub" to
                 which the bombings are linked is the "Celtic Corner". Others are known as the
                 Empire and the Raffles.

                 One expatriate who has frequented some of the shebeens said: "Everything that
                 is illegal is available in Saudi Arabia. The place is completely hypocritical. You
                 can drink every night. In some places people bring their own alcohol to parties.
                 Other places are set up as full-time pubs, with shelves stacked high with bottles.
                 A bottle of home-brew fetches about £20. An imported whisky costs about
                 £100. It's big business. Some guys make more money selling alcohol than they
                 earn."

                 The "confessions" sent shivers through the expatriate community. At least 12
                 people are under arrest and anybody connected to them could be swept up in
                 the Saudi dragnet. Any Westerner caught with a few bottles of alcohol is
                 vulnerable, to lashes and imprisonment at the very least. "The sewers of Riyadh
                 were rather fragrant as people got rid of their alcohol," said one Western
                 diplomat.

                 A nurse who knows Mr Rodway said: "I cannot talk to you. It's for my own
                 safety." British executives feign to be busy in meetings all day, or fail to keep
                 appointments. Cornered at the city's little golf club, expats turned their backs.
                 One Briton said: "I have nothing to say. Go away."

                 For the Saudi police, the inquiry into the bombings must be akin to investigating
                 some closed religious sect. A Saudi journalist with links to the intelligence
                 services said: "We knew that Westerners had fun in their compounds, but never
                 realised that they are involved in organised crime. The confessions reassure
                 Saudis that the authorities have quickly discovered who is behind the bombings.
                 They also teach the expatriates that they are not gods who can do whatever
                 they like."

                 Nobody knows what sparked the bombing campaign. Only the first two
                 incidents are definitely linked to alcohol smuggling. The second bomb,
                 diplomatic sources said, exploded near an illegal pub. The rest, such as a small
                 blast at a supermarket, may have been anti-Western copycat attacks or
                 attempts to throw investigators off the trail.

                 There are few solid facts. Mr Rodway, a technician in a hospital anaesthetics
                 department, and the three accused appear to have known each other through
                 the Celtic Corner. Unconfirmed reports speak of alcohol-related deals between
                 Mr Rodway and Mr Mitchell, a former soldier. There are also links with a
                 Briton jailed in Saudi Arabia last year, whom Saudi authorities are trying to
                 extradite from Dubai.

                 The Saudis are presenting the affair as a feud among foreigners with no Saudi
                 involvement. One diplomat said: "It is the only theory that holds water, but it
                 also happens to be a very convenient one for the Saudis." But for some
                 expatriates and Western diplomats, this cannot be the complete story. Why
                 would foreigners draw attention to their alcohol trade by planting bombs? Why
                 did the three accused confess on TV? And if they really are involved in
                 smuggling, who are the suppliers?

                 Some observers put forward the theory of a Saudi vigilante group attacking
                 alcohol smugglers. Others suggest that the bombings are not a feud between
                 foreign smugglers, but between Saudis. A Western diplomat said: "The people
                 who have been accused are just small fry."

                 The diplomat said: "It is a multi-million dollar business and where there is money
                 on that scale it is inconceivable that Saudis are not behind it. It is rumoured that
                 a general is involved and, if true, that would implicate some of the princes in the
                 royal family. The confessions seem to be a deal to protect the big people behind
                 them."

Alexander Mitchell - Death Row Saudi Arabia

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