Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, pursuant to the Answer of 26 October 2017 to Question 108484, on how many occasions since 13 July 2016 the Government has raised the case of Raif Badawi with the Government of Saudi Arabia.

The British Government remains concerned about the case of Raif Badawi. Our Ambassador in Riyadh last raised his case with the Saudi authorities on 26 July 2017 and we do not expect further lashes to be administered. We continue to monitor Mr Badawi's case closely and have raised this regularly and frequently at all levels and will continue to do so. We believe we will be more successful in effecting change by discussing cases privately with Saudi Arabia than through public criticism.