A 74-year-old British grandfather who spent more than a year in a Saudi jail for possessing homemade wine has returned home, the British foreign secretary, Philip Hammond, said on Wednesday.
The Briton, Karl Andree, a former oil executive who had been living in Saudi Arabia for decades, was arrested by the religious police in Jidda in August 2014 for violating the kingdom’s tough laws on alcohol.
His family had been campaigning for the British government to press for his release.
They feared that Mr. Andree, an asthmatic who has survived cancer, could be subject to a public flogging as part of his sentence and that he might not survive it, although there was no indication that he was about to receive that punishment.
“I’m pleased that he has returned home to be reunited with his family, bringing to an end an extremely tough time for him and his family,” Mr. Hammond said in a statement, adding that the release reflected the strong ties between Britain and Saudi Arabia.
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