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Bryant will not plead guilty to come home

18th January 2001
Page 8
Page 8, 18th January 2001 — Bryant will not plead guilty to come home
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Which of the following most accurately describes the problem?

by Miles Brignall Steve Bryant. the British truck driver seven years into a Moroccan prison sentence for drug

smuggling, says he would rather stay where he is than admit his guilt in return for a transfer to a UK prison.

The driver, originally from Waltham Cross, has maintained his innocence since his arrest in Tangiers in 1993. He has now written to supporters in the UK setting out his position after being told that his father had died on Christmas Eve.

In the past, prisoners facing long sentences in foreign countries have been allowed to return to the UK to serve their sentence through deals brokered by the Foreign Office,

However, if Bryant were offered the chance to leave the prison in Rabat he would first have to sign a form admitting his guilt—

something he says he's not prepared to do.

"He's been there seven years and has three to go—now that his father is dead he sees little point in admitting to something he didn't do for the sole purpose of getting home." says friend and campaigner Donna Cook. ''His mother died several years ago, which broke his heart.

Now his father has died and so has his reason to get out. He's patient and will wait until he can prove his innocence."

Bryant was arrested after Customs officers found a consignment of cannabis resin hidden among a load of frozen squid, His appeal against the original eight-year sentence resulted in it being increased to 10 years. The owner of the factory where

he loaded—who was believed to be behind the smuggling operation—was also jailed, but is now believed to have been freed.

Tags

Organisations: Foreign Office
Locations: Rabat

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