Saudi Crown Prince Abdullah bin Abdulaziz has cancelled an upcoming visit to Canada following criticism by newspapers and officials there of the alleged treatment of a Canadian citizen in a Saudi prison, said AFP, quoting a newspaper Thursday.
"It is now certain that he (Prince Abdullah) has cancelled his visit to Canada because of criticism from Canadian officials and newspapers of the security and religious situation in the kingdom," Al-Riyadh quoted a senior official as saying.
The trip to Canada was part of a tour by Prince Abdullah that will also take in Syria, Germany, Sweden and Morocco, starting on June 5, said the agency.
Canada's National Post reported on Monday and Tuesday that there was evidence that Bill Sampson, 43, who has been held since November in connection with two bomb explosions in Riyadh, but not yet charged, had been tortured.
But a government official in Ottawa said Tuesday that “there is no truth to allegations that a Canadian citizen was tortured or deliberately mistreated in a Saudi jail and reports of his injuries have been exaggerated.”
The official said that it was clear Sampson's injuries had been suffered during an attempt to restrain the prisoner, who was shown on Saudi television earlier this year confessing to a fatal bombing in Riyadh.
Sampson was taken to hospital last week with injuries that some of his relatives said included a fractured vertebra and bad bruising on his arms and legs, which they alleged had been inflicted during a beating by his jailers.
But when a doctor and Canada's ambassador to Saudi Arabia visited Sampson in hospital on Monday, they filed a report back to Ottawa telling a different story.
The reports were "an unacceptable interference in the procedures applied" by the Saudi legal system, which enforces a strict version of Islamic Sharia law, Al-Riyadh charged.
"This is deceitful and misleading information, in which certain Canadian officials are implicated and which has harmed friendly relations between the kingdom and Canada," the paper quoted a Saudi official as saying.
Sampson, 43, being held without charge in connection with a fatal bombing in Saudi Arabia last year, was admitted to hospital May 17 with “suspicious” injuries, said the paper.
Saudi authorities told the family that Sampson's injuries resulted from a suicide attempt – Albawaba.com
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