William Sampson

Topics

Presentations

Human Rights Under Siege - At Home and Abroad

William Sampson - My Story

The Survival and the Politics of Torture

Summary Profile

Wrongly accused of a crime in Saudi Arabia, Canadian William Sampson spent more than two years in solitary confinement in a Saudi jail. He was tortured into confessing to a fatal car bombing and sentenced to death.

Sampson continues to decry the diplomatic efforts of the Canadian government, claiming officials were too timid in their negotiations while he languished in prison, waiting for his public execution.

Media around the world have followed his story of persecution from the beginning. Through sheer determination and hope, William survived and now reaches out to others with his inspiring words.

His is a story of survival under the most physically and mentally trying circumstances, and one of frustration and outrage towards an institution that failed to protect one of its own. Hear Sampson's incredible tale of triumph in the face of harsh adversity and his fervent belief in preventing similar abuses around the world.


"What was it that I did to survive? Where did those ideas come from? Where did I find the resolve to enact them? At the time of my release, I had no ready answers beyond that I did what seemed natural and necessary. In looking back, I realize that the peculiarities of my personality helped me to adopt strategies that allowed for the reclamation of my identity and my integrity while in the hands of barbarians. Yet what I did is neither remarkable nor courageous nor beyond the capabilities of any person that finds himself in similar circumstances. What I have come to believe is that there exists in all of us the potential to stand and fight and reclaim."

William Sampson

Client Testimonials:

He spoke ..."with considerable composure and amazing coherence of the nightmare, physical and psychological, of his stay chained and unchained in the fine prison of the kingdom..."

Rex Murphy, CBC Newsworld