Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 11 June (HL Deb, col 890), what evidence they have regarding the level of popular support in Saudi Arabia for the sentence passed on Raif Badawi.

It is clear from social media that there is considerable, though not universal, support in Saudi Arabia for the sentence imposed on Raif Badawi. More broadly, a substantial proportion of the Saudi population hold conservative views and support the implementation of Shariah law. We continue to raise our concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities about Raif Badawi’s case and wider human rights issues.