Saudi Arabia: Capital Punishment

(asked on 22nd February 2021) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to the Government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (a) not to proceed with the imminent execution of Nawaf al-Osaimi for a crime allegedly committed as a teenager and (b) to halt all executions pending a review of the death row population to identify those convicted of crimes allegedly committed as children and resentence them in line with the 2020 Royal Decree.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 25th February 2021

The UK strongly opposes the death penalty in all countries and in all circumstances, as a matter of principle. This is especially the case for juveniles. This is in line with the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the Arab Charter on Human Rights. We reiterated our opposition to the death penalty in Saudi Arabia in a joint statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 15 September.

We regularly raise our concerns about the use of the death penalty, including individual cases with the Saudi Arabian authorities and we will continue to do so. In August, our Chargé d'affaires in Riyadh raised the issue of the death penalty with Minister of State Al Jubeir. I raised the death penalty with Dr Awwad al Awwad, President of Saudi Arabia's Human Rights Commission during his virtual visit in July.

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