Jail(ed) Britons reject Saudi '£1m hush money offer'...

[cantwealljustgetalong]

British prisoners who were repeatedly tortured in Saudi Arabia launched legal action last night against the Middle East kingdom, defying last-minute attempts to buy their silence.

Lawyers have been instructed to sue over claims of human rights abuses and false imprisonment from British men allegedly beaten into confessing involvement in bomb attacks.

The development came amid claims that the Saudi authorities have assembled a huge 'bribe' to silence the men and prevent a multi-million-pound lawsuit. Prominent Saudi dissidents said a package - possibly as much as £1m each - appears to have been put together to prevent the captives from suing or speaking publicly about their ordeal. But three of the men, who claim to have suffered months of beatings, have told Manchester-based solicitors Pannone & Partners to start pursuing compensation and justice in the court.

The threat of a lawsuit comes at a time of unprecedented tension between the West and the Arab world. Experts warn it heralds a serious straining of diplomatic relations between Britain and its chief ally in the region.

The men claim they were arrested and tortured until they confessed to carrying out a string of anti-Western terror attacks in the kingdom from November 2000. Some were held in solitary confinement for more than two years.

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http://observer.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,6903,1020300,00.html