A British hotelier who was locked up in a “hell hole” prison on the paradise island of Zanzibar has spoken for the first time after his release. Simon Wood, 51, was jailed alongside his Italian wife Francesca Scalfari, 45, on the West African Island, located in the Indian Ocean, just over two weeks ago.
But on Friday he said he was “floating” after his lawyers persuaded a judge to dismiss the most serious criminal charges that were levelled against the pair. Simon and his wife still face nine financial related charges, which he claims stem from a “quarrel” over money with ex-investors in his resort, the Sharazād Boutique Hotel.
During his ordeal in a squalid local prison, Simon slept on a single mattress with another inmate and was forced to go to the toilet through a hole in his cramped 10-man cell. Guards also shaved his head, probed his food with their fingers and refused to let his relatives visit the jail on occasions.
