Horror has been unleashed in the UK about the fate of a British man, Karl Andree, who has been sentenced to 350 lashes in Saudi Arabia for the crime of having home-made wine in his car boot. He has already served a 12 month prison sentence.
His son, Simon Andree and other members of the family have spent months trying all diplomatic channels at the British Foreign Office and in Riyadh to no avail. Simon has now taken his appeal public with a petition on the change.org website and an interview in the UK’s most read newspaper, The Sun.
He says on the petition:
My father, Karl Andree, is facing 350 lashes at a public flogging in Saudi Arabia for having home-made wine in the boot of his car (read more about this in The Sun)
He has had cancer three times, is asthmatic and has been in jail more than a year.
There is no doubt in my mind that 350 lashes will kill him.
He needs medical care for his cancer and asthma.
He has given 25 years of his working life to Saudi Arabia and until his arrest he had been happy working there and felt safe.
He broke the rules in a country that does not allow alcohol but he’s served his time. He is 74 and not a well man. I worry he won’t survive this ordeal.
My mother, Verity, is dying of Alzheimer’s, and he is desperate to come home and see her through her final months.
My brother Hugh, sister Kirsten and our families have implored David Cameron to personally intervene and help get our father home.
Now we need your help.
Please sign this petition and help us put pressure on David Cameron and the UK Government to use their diplomatic weight to stop the Saudi Arabian Government going through with this punishment.
Thank you.
Simon Andree
The UK government has maintained a soft line on Saudi Arabia which is not surprising as they have authorised £4,000,000,000 (4 billion pounds) in arms sales to the ruthless and murderous regime in the last five years.
We urge our readers in the UK to support the petition.
