London: Four Britons who allege that they were subjected to “severe torture” in Saudi Arabia will learn on Tuesday whether or not their human rights were breached when they were blocked from suing their alleged abusers.

Ron Jones, who a Guardian investigation revealed could not have carried out a bombing in the capital Riyadh, is among those who say they were beaten, raped and subjected to sleep deprivation and psychological abuse. The European court of human rights is due to decide whether a decision that foreign states and their officials were immune from civil actions breached their right to access to court.

The Scottish tax adviser was injured in the explosion in 2001, but he was seized from his hospital bed by agents from the interior ministry, who claimed he was responsible for it. His hands and feet were caned and beaten with a pickaxe handle. He was also subjected to sleep deprivation, beatings and psychological duress, as well as being drugged in a 67-day ordeal.

Jones finally signed a statement admitting responsibility for the bombing, saying he had signed of his own free will, but he has always maintained that he was tortured.

He has spent years pursuing his alleged abusers through the courts, along with Alexander Mitchell, William Sampson and Leslie Walker, who were detained and tortured in Saudi Arabia after a separate series of bombings.

Speaking in 2002, Jones said he was held in solitary confinement for two days after he was taken from hospital and then the torture began. He told the Guardian: “They said they knew I was part of the bombing circle, that I had planted the bomb, and that if I didn’t admit it they would torture me until I confessed.

“They punched me, kicked me, bounced me off the walls. Then the caning started. They caned the soles of my feet and then they started caning my hands, sometimes with pickaxe handle. They told me they had arrested my wife and son and that they were doing all this to them as well.

“There’s a period of about a week that I can’t really recall. I had a hair sample test done when I got back which showed I was given a rohypnol-style [sedative] drug. They tried sleep deprivation, too. They would interrogate you all night and not let you sleep during the day.”

He said his confession came when he realised “they had won”. “I didn’t care what the consequences were,” he said. “They recorded a statement from me in which I confessed to the bookshop bombing. Alcohol was never mentioned. I swore another statement saying I had not been mistreated and that I had confessed willingly to this.”

In June 2006, the law lords accepted claims by the Saudi government, supported by its British counterpart, that its agents were protected by the State Immunity Act 1978 from proceedings in Britain and overturned a 2004 decision allowing a damages claim.