An Edinburgh father who claims he was wrongfully imprisoned during a Mecca pilgrimage in Saudi Arabia has spoken of his ordeal.

Kausar Uddin was arrested after being accused of assaulting a police officer in Islam's most sacred mosque, the Masjid al-Haram.

The takeaway owner has now been reunited with his family in Edinburgh after being released ten months after he was initially handed a 35-day sentence.

Mr Uddin, who has been recovering from the experience at his home in Broomhouse since his return, said he was beaten and kept in uncomfortable, overcrowded conditions.

He said: "I was really shocked, it was a very awkward situation. There were about 500 people sleeping everywhere, even in the toilet.

"What [the authorities] say, is always right. They treated me like an animal. The first two days I couldn't sleep, because there was no bed."

The father-of-three said people who had medical problems languished in the prison without any help.

"They slept in the toilet instead of being taken to hospital," he added. "[The guards] didn't have any sympathy for it."

Mr Uddin, who also works as a taxi driver, was jailed on February 29 after the incident at the Masjid al-Haram.

He had been on a pilgrimage organised by Blackhall Mosque in Edinburgh.

After 95 days, he managed to negotiate moving to a family friend's house in Saudi Arabia but he was kept under house arrest until the end of October.

His family had to sell his takeaway in Leith because it had accrued so much debt during his long absence.

The authorities have still not returned his passport to him, and he is still campaigning to have it returned to him.

Family friend Rizwan Razan said: "He was wrongly imprisoned for 40 days and came back ten months later.

"The financial consequences, the trauma, the effect it's had on the family, this will last for years. It took too long [to get him home], I didn't understand why this process took so long."