William Sampson says Canada's style of "soft diplomacy" was thoroughly inadequate during the more than two years he spent in jail in Saudi Arabia.

Sampson, a Canadian biochemist who now lives in England, told a Foreign Affairs committee in Ottawa Thursday that Canadian embassy officials who visited him in prison were dismissive and ignored his pleas for help -- even as he told them he was being tortured.

"I do not feel that throughout my long incarceration that I was at all supported by the Department of Foreign Affairs," he told the panel.

"Their behaviour and treatment of my family -- my father in particular when he visited Saudi Arabia -- was thoroughly inadequate."

Later in the day, Foreign Affairs Minister Bill Graham faced Opposition demands in the House of Commons for a public inquiry.

"I'll have an opportunity (Friday) to meet with Mr. Sampson and we can discuss his case. We're going to do our best to find out how we can serve Canadians in future and I will listen attentively to the advice he can give," Graham said.

Retired Foreign Affairs official Gar Pardy, who oversaw the Sampson case, told CTV News that Sampson's account to the committee was inaccurate. "What he was saying today bore no relationship whatsoever to the actions being taken from the prime minister on down," Pardy said.

Sampson says he was wrongly imprisoned, isolated and sentenced to death for a car bombing in 2000 -- a crime he says he didn't commit. The Saudi government broadcast a televised confession by Sampson, but he insists the statement wasn't made willingly.

"The fact of the matter is that I was innocent and that I was being tortured into confessing to crimes that I did not make," he told the Foreign Affairs committee.

Sampson alleged he endured repeated beatings which continued after he suffered a heart attack at the hands of his captors. He says he lost teeth during his torture and has had four heart operations since being freed.

He said he saw no one from the Canadian embassy in Riyadh for his first six weeks in prison. When he finally did, he received almost no advice from them.

"I was denied the most basic of human rights -- the right to counsel. I was denied the most basic of human rights to me with representatives of my country. And that was never publicly raised in the manner that it should have been from the start."

Sampson says he was so shocked by the poor response of Canadian officials, he decided to withdraw all cooperation and refused to accept visitors from the Canadian government.

"I was fighting alone in solitary confinement because of the behaviour of your officials," he told the committee. He added that only a visit by Bloc MP Stephane Bergeron and Liberal Dan McTeague got the department to take an interest.

"I believe that a public inquiry into the behaviour of Canadian government officials, both here in Ottawa and at the embassy in Riyadh, is essential, given their performance."

Sampson added that while he found little support from the Canadian government, he found it in the Canadian public.

"The one thing that has always surprised me and make me feel extremely humble and grateful is that the Canadian people have supported me and believed in my innocence," he said.

Sampson suggested that the Canadian government decided to take a soft approach to his case so as not to anger officials in Riyadh.

"I'm not convinced the soft power argument has worked in my case or other cases," he said. "If the Canadian government wanted to effect an earlier release, they have to be prepared to much more publicly declaim the government's concerns."

"Because of the political clout that Saudi Arabia supposedly has, people were hiding behind the soft-power argument to do nothing."

Liberal MP Aileen Carrol told Sampson that every effort was employed to try to obtain his release. "I can assure you that the Department of Foreign Affairs always works on a presumption of innocence," she said.

"If you were operating under the presumption of my innocence, why was it that your embassy in Riyadh was contradicting that?" Sampson demanded. "It would appear that Foreign Affairs operated as if I was guilty long before I even had a trial."

When questioned by committee member and Alliance MP Stockwell Day on how to improve the government's approach, Sampson snapped that the Alliance should look at itself first.

"Your own party, the Alliance, happens to be the party that has the MP in my father's constituency. That individual provided not one ounce of support to my father or my family this entire time," Sampson said.

"So I would recommend the political parties get their own houses in order with regard to these issues, before they start telling the government how to conduct themselves."

Saudi Arabia has rejected a formal Canadian request for an investigation into Sampson's imprisonment. They insist the torture did not happen and that Sampson is still guilty of the bombing.

On Tuesday, fellow Canadian Maher Arar broke his silence about his story of being tortured for a year in a Syrian jail. Arar, 33, said he was beaten, kept in a tiny cell for more than 10 months, and forced to sign documents. He said his life and career have been "destroyed" by the experience.

Prime Minister Jean Chretien has rejected Arar's call for an inquiry into his case, saying the RCMP public complaints commission is investigating the case.