Gay Man Comes Home After 6 Months in Saudi Jail

A gay man who was detained and tortured in Saudi Arabia for six months returned home to England last week.

Stephen Comiskey, 36, was working under contract for the King Fahad National Guard Hospital in Riyadh, according to U.K paper The Sun. He said he was lured into an ambush due by text messages sent to him from someone posing as one of his friends.

Comiskey said he was detained under charges of homosexuality, but added that he never was obvious about his sexual orientation. After being beaten, he was jailed, his passport was confiscated, and he was threatened with beheading. Eventually diplomats were able to broker his return home. He said before he was released, he was forced to sign a "confession" but could not read the document because it was written in Arabic.

According to The Sun, diplomats believe Comiskey's arrest was related to the case of Saudi Prince Saud Abdulaziz bin Nasser al Saud, who was sentenced to life in prison last year for killing his servant in a London hotel. Saudi authorities did not want the prince's sexual orientation to become a factor in his trial, but British officials thought it was an important factor in the case. Diplomats believe the arrest was a retaliative measure after the prince's trial.