Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has made recent representations to his counterpart in Saudi Arabia on (a) releasing people detained and (b) lifting travel bans imposed on people for participating in peaceful protests.

No aspect of our relationship with Saudi Arabia prevents us from speaking frankly about human rights. The UK is concerned over the arrests and continued detention of a number of individuals, particularly those detained for expressing their political views. We regularly raise concerns with the Saudi authorities about individual cases, and continue to call for detainees to be given adequate legal representation. The UK also recognises that travel bans can cause significant hardship and distress to those affected.