MAIL ONLINE: Prince Saud faces the death penalty over his gay sex life if he ever returns to his home country and may have to apply for asylum when he is eventually released.
His lawyers failed in a last-ditch attempt to stop sordid details of his encounters with male escorts being revealed during the trial.
John Kelsey-Fry QC, defending, said Al Saud had already faced abuse from Islamic fundamentalists being held alongside him at Belmarsh prison.
The court heard that homosexuality remains a capital offence in Saudi Arabia, with the country in which the acts take place having little relevance to the prosecution, under the country's sharia law code.
Families of those accused have been known to push for the most severe penalties because of the perceived shame caused to them by homosexuality.
Saudi nationals have been granted asylum in the UK on the basis they were gay.
Mr Kelsey-Fry had unsuccessfully argued before the trial started to exclude evidence of the gay relationship from the evidence put before the jury.
In a sign of the anxiety about his sexuality becoming public, the prince's lawyers had even initially argued that this legal argument should be held behind closed doors.
He added: 'There have been difficulties in Belmarsh prison already whereby there are Islamists - Islamic fundamentalists - who have already caused difficulties with this defendant.'
Jonathan Laidlaw QC, prosecuting, said that while the defendant might be 'anxious' about this evidence about him, he would not be returning to his home country 'for some time'.
'He knows as he has no doubt been advised that if the time arises that a return to Saudi Arabia is contemplated and there is then a real risk to him suffering, he will be entitled to apply for asylum.' [Source: Mail Online] | Daily Mail Reporter | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
Minimum of twenty years in jail for sadistic, cruel gay Saudi prince >>>
THE GUARDIAN: Saudi prince jailed for life for murdering servant: Brutal death at five-star London hotel was culmination of 'sadistic' abuse for which 'no one is above the law', rules judge >>> Sam Jones and agencies | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
THE INDEPENDENT: Life term for Saudi prince who murdered servant: A Saudi prince who used his servant as a "human punchbag" was jailed for life today for beating and strangling him to death. >>> PA | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
THE TELEGRAPH: A Saudi Arabian prince could never be seen to be homosexual in a country where it is punishable by death.
Ostensibly in a relationship with a woman, Prince Saud bin Abdulaziz bin Nasir al Saud portrayed himself as an upstanding member of the House of Saud. A grandson of King Abdullah, he tended to his royal duties alongside his father, Prince Abdulaziz.
However, when released to go travelling for three months with his manservant Bandula Abdulaziz, Saud was free to embrace a more “effeminate” way of life.
Described as a combination of Nigel Havers and Omar Sharif, he made little secret of the fact he and his aide were sharing a bed in their room at the five-star Landmark hotel in London. Rarely out of each other’s sight, they routinely shopped in Selfridges, Harrods and Harvey Nichols, where on one occasion they spent just eight minutes and bought a £2,005 dress. For whom this was intended was not clear.
The language used by hotel staff to describe the prince was strikingly similar – “effeminate”, “giggling”, “very camp”. Shamsul Arafin, a waiter who delivered him room service, said: “By his gestures and postures, he seemed to be gay.” >>> Caroline Gammell | Wednesday, October 20, 2010
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