A Kiwi national who thought he was going to die after being imprisoned last year for the possession of drugs can finally breathe a sigh of relief after being released from his Thai hellhole.
Ari Michael Salinger, son of prominent New Zealand climate change expert Dr Jim Salinger, was arrested in Patong in September last year for the possession of two ecstasy tablets.
The 45 year old, initially released on bail, expected to pay a small fine and then be sent on his way. Instead, the New Zealand national was incarcerated for several months in what he described as a hellhole, his worst nightmare.
Salinger was cuffed, starved and forced to sleep naked on prison floors in Patong, Phuket, and Bangkok prisons. He said, it was worse than any movie depiction and, he thought he was going to die.
“I thought I would be killed.”
