Saudi Arabia: Human Rights

(asked on 24th June 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether the Government has recently monitored the trials of Loujain al-Hathloul, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Sada and others who comprise the 13 women human rights defenders in Saudi Arabia on trial for reportedly peaceful activism.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 30th June 2020

We are monitoring the cases of Loujain al-Hathloul, Samar Badawi, Nassima al-Sada, and all women's rights defenders. The UK attends trials of international importance in all countries where permitted. The UK, along with other embassies in Saudi Arabia, consistently attempt to attend the trials of Women's Rights Defenders, and have been denied access since October 2018, with the exception of the trials for those involved in the killing of Jamal Khashoggi.

We remain concerned about the continued detention of women's rights activists in Saudi Arabia. The Foreign Secretary raised our concerns about the ongoing detention of political detainees, including women's rights defenders, with Saudi Ministers during his visit to Riyadh in March. We regularly raise areas of concern with the Saudi authorities at all levels, through Ministers, our Ambassador and our Embassy in Riyadh. We consistently underline the importance of political freedoms globally. This includes respect for the right to peaceful protest, the rule of law, and freedom of speech, the press, and assembly. We continue to raise concerns about individual cases regularly and monitor the situation closely.

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