William Sampson (author) - Legal Case

Legal Case

On October 28, 2004, Sampson, along with Britons Sandy Mitchell and Les Walker, won a legal battle in London, UK that allows them to sue the men in Saudi Arabia they say tortured them into making the false confessions. In February 2005, a coroner's inquest into the death of Christopher Rodway, held in Trowbridge, concluded that there was no evidence to indicate that Sampson and Mitchell had any involvement in the death, and thus were not involved in the incident for which the Saudi Arabian government had arrested them. In June 2006, a decision handed down at the Law Lords overturned the earlier ruling of the Court of Appeal. Sampson, along with Mitchell and Walker are now appealing to the European Court of Human Rights claiming that the law in Britain, as interpreted in the Lords decision, is a violation of their rights under Article 6 (right to a fair trial) of the European Convention on Human Rights.

In June 2006 the group's appeal was overturned by the Law Lords on the grounds that Saudi officials are protected in Britain by the State Immunity Act 1978. In 2007, Sampson was the subject of a National Film Board of Canada-co-produced documentary.