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Thorne returns home 'to move on with life'

Noongar man Shayden Thorne has spoken to NITV News for the first time since his return to Perth.

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Shayden Thorne (NITV News)

2 min read

Published

Updated

By Craig Quartermaine

Source: NITV News


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Thorne spent two-and-a-half years of a four-and-a-half year sentence in a Saudi Prison after secret police captured him and 12 others in a raid involving their Mosque.

After more than a month of interrogation, Thorne said he supplied a confession under duress and went without contact with friends and family for almost six months. 

Thorne told NITV News that he had mostly been sleeping and recovering from his ordeal since returning home to Perth.

He paid his first visit to a Perth beach over the weekend and had been enjoying the outdoors with his younger brother, Junaid.

After almost three years overseas, Thorne said he intended to make Perth his permanent home.

"Well yeah you know, 16 years away from Perth - I'm going to stay here now," he said.

He said it had been difficult to only hear from his family once every month.

"It's really tough man. The way you look at it, I'm in a cell - four walls, six people. I'm just waiting for that, for the visit, just one hour. After a month it was really depressing," he said.

But now that he's home in Australia, Thorne said he will focus on the future rather than the torment of his past.

"The way I look at it, it's in the past I'm just going to try and move on with life, that's all I can do is just move on," he said.

Thorne's family are cautious in addressing the Australian government's involvement in the release of their son and are wary of the repercussions to be faced for speaking out about his treatment.


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