Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many of the open torture cases reviewed in the 2022 review related to the abuse of British citizens in the Middle East and North Africa region.
Answered by David Rutley
In 2022, as part of the FCDO's internal annual review of torture and mistreatment cases reported to consular staff by British nationals overseas, the FCDO reviewed all 131 torture and mistreatment cases that were open on 31 December 2021. 32 of these were from the Middle East region.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, how many cases were reviewed as part of his Department's annual review of open torture cases in 2022.
Answered by David Rutley
In 2022, as part of the FCDO's internal annual review of torture and mistreatment cases reported to consular staff by British nationals overseas, the FCDO reviewed all 131 torture and mistreatment cases that were open on 31 December 2021. 32 of these were from the Middle East region.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, with reference to the Parliamentary Under Secretary's letter of correction to the Official Report on 2 December 2022 following an Urgent Question on 28 November 2022, for what reason the correction was made.
Answered by David Rutley
I corrected my answer to clarify that I misspoke, and that the reports of torture in the case of al-Kheir were allegations, as set out in my initial response to the Urgent Question. The FCDO and British Embassy Riyadh have frequent discussions with counterparts in Saudi Arabia. The Urgent Question was raised with our Embassy in Riyadh, but there was no discussion of correcting the Official Report. HMG has raised al-Kheir's case with the Saudi authorities on several occasions, and has reiterated the UK's principled opposition to the use of the death penalty.
Asked by: Bambos Charalambous (Labour - Southgate and Wood Green)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether (a) he and (b) his Department had discussions with his counterparts in Saudi Arabia prior to the submission of the letter of correction to the Official Report on 2 December 2022.
Answered by David Rutley
I corrected my answer to clarify that I misspoke, and that the reports of torture in the case of al-Kheir were allegations, as set out in my initial response to the Urgent Question. The FCDO and British Embassy Riyadh have frequent discussions with counterparts in Saudi Arabia. The Urgent Question was raised with our Embassy in Riyadh, but there was no discussion of correcting the Official Report. HMG has raised al-Kheir's case with the Saudi authorities on several occasions, and has reiterated the UK's principled opposition to the use of the death penalty.