James Cottle

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Charge:	Bombing
Sentence:	18 years
Years Imprisoned:	2
Year Crime:
Year Convicted:	2002
Year Cleared:	2003
U.S. State or Country of Crime:	Saudi Arabia
County or Region of Crime:
City of Crime:	Riyadh
Result:	Pardoned
Summary of Case:	"James Cottle was one of the Saudi Six. They were British expatriates living in Saudi Arabia wrongly convicted of being involved in a bombing in Saudi Arabia. All six co-defendants denied they voluntarily confessed on Saudi television to the bombing. All the men claim to have been tortured, and all six confessions used similar words. Cottle doesn't speak Arabic, and he wasn't provided with an interpreter fluent enough to have translated the confession he allegedly made from English to Arabic. Cottle was granted a royal pardon on August 8, 2003 and he was immediately deported to the United Kingdom."
Conviction Caused By:	"False confession - he was tortured and since the interpreter translating his alleged confession speaks poor English, it is unknown if he actually confessed to the bombings on Saudi television, or if the 'interpreter' simply said he did. The bombings continued after the arrest of Cottle and his 5 codefendants so they obviously weren't the bombers."
Innocence Proved By:
Defendant Aided By:
Compensation Awarded:
Was Perpetrator Identified?
Age When Imprisoned:	50
Age When Released:	52
Sex:	Male
Skin/Ethnicity:	White
Information Source 1:	"Suspects in Saudi blasts Claim Their Innocence: as bombings continue, some question expatriates 'confessions,'" Susan Taylor Martin (St. Petersburg Times), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11-5-02, p. A4."
Information Location 1:	http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/national/94190_saudi05.shtml
Information Source 2:	"Saudi six 'left to rot', Paul Harris (staff), The Guardian (London, UK), Feb. 16, 2003 "
Information Location 2:	"http://www.guardian.co.uk/saudi/story/0,11599,896776,00.html"
Information Source 3:	"Greed and torture at the House of Saud, Staff, The Observer, Nov. 24, 2002 "
Information Location 3:	"http://observer.guardian.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4553603,00.html"
Information Source 4:	"Saudis release eight Westerners jailed in bombings, Ed Johnson, AP London, August 9, 2003"
Information Location 4:	http://archives.seattletimes.nwsource.com/cgi-bin/texis.cgi/web/vortex/display?slug=saudifree09&date=20030809&query=cottle
Information Source 5:	"Saudis free bomb blast Britons, Staff and Agencies, The Guardian, London UK, August 8, 2003"
Information Location 5:	"http://www.guardian.co.uk/uk_news/story/0,3604,1014880,00.html"
Book About Case:
Book Information:
Book About Case (2):
Book Information (2):
Movie About Case:
Comments About Case:	"The men who were imprisoned, Staff, The Guardian, London UK, August 9, 2003, http://www.guardian.co.uk/international/story/0,3604,1015137,00.html"

James Cottle

Charge:

Bombing

Sentence:

18 years

Years Imprisoned:

2

Year Crime:

Year Convicted:

2002

Year Cleared:

2003

U.S. State or Country of Crime:

Saudi Arabia

County or Region of Crime:

City of Crime:

Riyadh

Result:

Pardoned

Summary of Case:

Conviction Caused By:

Innocence Proved By:

Defendant Aided By:

Compensation Awarded:

Was Perpetrator Identified?

Age When Imprisoned:

50

Age When Released:

52

Sex:

Male

Skin/Ethnicity:

White

Information Source 1:

"Suspects in Saudi blasts Claim Their Innocence: as bombings continue, some question expatriates 'confessions,'" Susan Taylor Martin (St. Petersburg Times), Seattle Post-Intelligencer, 11-5-02, p. A4."

Information Location 1:

Information Source 2:

"Saudi six 'left to rot', Paul Harris (staff), The Guardian (London, UK), Feb. 16, 2003 "

Information Location 2:

Information Source 3:

"Greed and torture at the House of Saud, Staff, The Observer, Nov. 24, 2002 "

Information Location 3:

Information Source 4:

"Saudis release eight Westerners jailed in bombings, Ed Johnson, AP London, August 9, 2003"

Information Location 4:

Information Source 5:

"Saudis free bomb blast Britons, Staff and Agencies, The Guardian, London UK, August 8, 2003"

Information Location 5:

Book About Case:

Book Information:

Book About Case (2):

Book Information (2):

Movie About Case:

Comments About Case: