Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether he held discussions with Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman of Saudi Arabia on the number of executions in that country.

Both the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary raised human rights issues with the Crown Prince during the course of his visit. In February, shortly before the Crown Prince's visit, our Ambassador in Riyadh raised the issue of the death penalty directly with Saudi counterparts.

We are firmly opposed to the death penalty and we raise our concerns at all levels and at all appropriate opportunities, including through our Ambassador, Embassy staff and through the EU. This is in line with the minimum standards set out in the EU Guidelines on the Death Penalty (2008), the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights.