Foreign AffairsWritten evidence from Mary Martini

My Name is Mary Martini, I have submitted written evidence in the past about the cases of the tortured British Men brutally mistreated in Saudi Arabia

James Cottle is the Father of my children he was locked up for 2 and a half years tortured for 66 days and nights.

James was 19 stone in weight when he made his televised confession and came back half of that, he suffered from PTSD due to the torture, it has ruined his life, he was accused of planting bombs in 2001 along with other westerners, it is only fair that country’s of concern should be exposed, torture still goes we should spare a thought for the poor souls going through hell right now,

James was subjected to beatings of the feet, deprived of food, blindfolded and made to stand arms upright for hours at a time and when he attempted to relax his arms because of the excruciating pain he was whacked with a large stick on the buttocks, he said he had never felt such pain sear through his body, he was beaten around the head with a leather sandal and lost some teeth he was told word for word what to write in his confession by his guards, when his feet were beaten they did this every night until they turned green, they laughed at him dripping blood from his soles as he tried to walk, all day he was hancuffed to the door and soiled and wet himself, he tried to commit suicide whilst in the Saudi Jail.

His ordeal is not over as our Government refused to help them seek justice in the courts when they were released.

I hold a special resentment as when it was broadcast on the news in his televised confession the news speculated they could be beheaded, My Daughter lived a nightmare every night of her Fathers head rolling on the ground she took an overdose to take her own life she was rushed to hospital and saved, this ordeal has scarred all our Family for ever.

David Cameron promised there are “no no-go areas” when it comes to discussing the human rights record of Saudi Arabia, I feel he would not be to hard on them as he wont want to lose his contracts, our Gov have always taken a softly softly approach and always tried to sweep this under the carpet now that Saudi Arabia says it is “insulted” by a parliamentary inquiry into how the UK deals with the country and Bahrain.

The Parker Institute in Copenhagen is a leading centre for the diagnosis of torture The Men were sent by our Government when they were released and proof of torture was obtained.

8 November 2012