6 Feb 2014

WA man home from Saudi Arabia jail

8:07 am on 6 February 2014

An Australian man accused of terrorism in Saudi Arabia has been freed from prison after being granted clemency and is now back in Perth.

Shayden Thorne was sentenced last May to prison in Saudi Arabia for 4½ years for encouraging terrorism.

He was arrested in November 2011 after a laptop, which his family claims was borrowed from a mosque, had extremist material on it.

Thorne claimed he confessed after being tortured.

Lawyer Jalil Alkhalidi told AAP Thorne arrived in Australia on Wednesday.

On arrival in Perth, Thorne told NITV he was happy to be reunited with his family: "Really, really happy and relieved. No words to say, really."

Thorne's brother, Junaid, was deported from Saudi Arabia last July.

He had been in hiding after his passport was confiscated because he was protesting against Shayden's detention.

The brothers lived in Saudi Arabia for more than 10 years, but kept their Australian citizenship.