Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether she has made an assessment of the implications for her policies of Saudi Arabian use of a Specialised Criminal Court for the prosecution of human rights defenders and political activists; and if she will make representations to her Saudi Arabian counterpart of the detention of (a) Israa al-Ghomghan, (b) Mousa al-Hashim, (c) Khaled al-Mahoush, (d) Mohammed al-Rabiah, (e) Khaled al-Omair and (f) Ali Mohsen Abu Lahoum in that country.

The UK remains concerned over the arrests and continued detention of a number of individuals, particularly those detained for expressing their political views. Lord Ahmad discussed referrals to the Specialised Criminal Court with the Saudi Justice Minister on 7 February 2022. We regularly raise human rights issues and individual cases with the Saudi authorities.