The British grandfather threatened with flogging for breaking Saudi Arabia’s strict anti-alcohol laws is to undergo tests to establish whether his cancer returned while he was detained, his son has said.
Karl Andree, 74, is due to be released within days following a surprise announcement by the foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, on Wednesday.
Andree has been locked up since his arrest in Jeddah in August last year when he was reportedly caught with homemade wine. The grandfather-of-seven, who has worked as an oil executive in Saudi Arabia for 25 years, has had cancer three times and his wife, Verity, is in Britain receiving care for Alzheimer’s disease.
Andree’s son, Simon, told the Guardian on Thursday that his father would undergo immediate tests for cancer when he returned to the UK.
He said: “First of all he needs to check to see what state his cancer is in – whether he’s still in remission or whether anything else has happened – so that will be one of the first things to happen.”
Simon said he had been told his father was “just overwhelmed” to hear the news of his release although they had not yet had a chance to talk. The Foreign Office telephoned Simon and told him that Hammond was in Saudi Arabia, but the first he heard of his father’s release was when he saw the announcement on television.
Describing his father’s time in detention, Simon said: “He’s been looked after in prison – he hasn’t been mistreated or anything. He’s had three meals a day. He’s had a bed. We’re waiting until he gets home so he can have a checkup.”
Downing Street said Hammond had only been informed of Andree’s release in a meeting with his counterpart and denied it was part of any deal that would give Saudi Arabia anything in return.
David Cameron, who had intervened personally in the case, tweeted:
Good to hear news from #Saudi that #KarlAndree is to be released within the week.
— David Cameron (@David_Cameron) October 28, 2015
Lucy Wake, political relations manger at Amnesty International, said the news of Andree’s release was a huge relief to all concerned but called on the UK to push Saudi Arabia harder on cases such as that of the blogger Raif Badawi, whose flogging for insulting Islam is due to resume soon, according to his wife, despite him reportedly nearly dying from the first 50 lashes.
“Mr Andree isn’t the only person who’s been facing hundreds of lashes in Saudi Arabia. The blogger Raif Badawi is still in exactly this terrible position,” she said. “We’d like to see the UK pushing harder on cases like Mr Badawi’s and the young protester Ali al-Nimr who is presently on death row in Saudi Arabia.
“We certainly shouldn’t allow ourselves to be warned off the topic of Saudi Arabia’s atrocious human rights record by finger-wagging Saudi Arabian officials.”
