A father of three has tearfully reunited with his family after spending two months in a prison in Iraq.
Brian Glendinning, 43, touched down in Edinburgh, Scotland, earlier this morning and was greeted by his loved ones.
Glendinning, a construction worker from Fife, was working at a BP oil refinery in Iraq when he was arrested on an Interpol red notice on September 12.
Considered a wanted fugitive, police cornered him at Basra airport over an alleged debt he owed the Qatar National Bank.
Glendinning had no clue he was on Interpol’s list while he was on his way to a new job and was later thrown into a jail cell.
According to Interpol, a ‘red notice’ tells police agencies worldwide to locate and temporarily arrest a fugitive pending extradition, surrender or similar legal action.
But the two-month-long saga ended last Sunday after a campaign led by his wife Kimberly and his family.
Glendinning embraced his wife, mother Meta, daughters Heidi and Lexi and brothers John and Lee following a flight from Istanbul, Turkey.
The family ran to see Glendinning as he entered arrivals just before midday.
Speaking with journalists at the airport, Glendinning said: ‘I just didn’t think this time was coming anytime soon.’
‘The emotion — I didn’t think I would be here any time soon.’
Glendinning thanked his supporters for helping to free him, including Radha Stirling, founder of the Interpol and Extradition Reform (Ipex) initiative, and the MP for Dunfermline and West Fife Douglas Chapman.
“If it wasn’t for the support of my family and friends, Douglas Chapman, Radha Stirling, I would still be there.
‘I think I would probably be on my way to Qatar — and not for the World Cup.’
One of the small things Glendinning was unable to do behind bars was shave.
‘It’s just time to get home and get to the barbers,’ Glendinning joked.
But seeing her soon-to-be clean-shaven son was something Meta never thought she’d see again.
‘When I knew his backside was on this plane that was going to land, that’s when I knew it was going to be all right,’ she said.
Recalling the moment she heard her son had been taken in, she said: ‘I had been texting him back and forward on his journey and everything was fine and he left Saudi Arabia and he was in Basra.
‘Then he sent the message, “Mum, I’ve been detained”. And that’s when my hell started. And my family’s.’
Glendinning agreed to take out a £20,000 loan with his bank in Qatar while he worked in Doha in 2016.
But he wasn’t able to keep up with his monthly repayments when he was forced to stop working while suffering from mental health issues and left for Scotland the following year.
What he didn’t know, however, was that he had been sentenced in his absence to two years in prison for faulting on his £4,000 debt.
He contracted a job at a BP oil refinery in Iraq and was due to start in September but was arrested by Interpol when he stepped off the plane at Basra airport.
Though Glendinning’s family received word of his release earlier this month after Qatar National Bank alerted authorities it no longer wanted him extradited.
He was picked up by British embassy staff last Sunday and his return took days to wrangle together.
His older brother Lee, 48, said: ‘I didn’t think I would see him home. If I am being honest I didn’t think I would see my brother again.’
Describing Glendinning’s time in prison, he added: ‘He was in with the Taliban, he was in with murderers and all over £4,000 of debt.
‘But the fact that he is out now is amazing.’
Glendinning will now head home to Kincardine to get some rest and his family said he doesn’t intend to work abroad again.
Stirling said: ‘Brian is going to take some time to rest and recuperate with his family before telling the world about the horrific experience he was forced to endure at the hands of Qatar, a country that has spent a fortune portraying itself as a tolerant society.
‘Once Brian has rested, we intend to push for British safeguards and to hold Qatar to account for the repeated abuse of our citizens.’
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