Saudi Arabia: Foreign Relations

(asked on 12th November 2020) - View Source

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, if he will make representations to the Saudi Arabian Government on (a) releasing prisoners of conscience in that country, (b) committing to undertake an in-depth assessment of the circumstances of the death of Jamal Khashoggi and (c) ending that country's role in the conflict in Yemen.


Answered by
James Cleverly Portrait
James Cleverly
Home Secretary
This question was answered on 19th November 2020

Our close relationship with Saudi Arabia allows us to raise our concerns about human rights, including on political detainees, in private and in public. The UK signed a statement at the UN Human Rights Council on 15 September. It noted our human rights concerns in Saudi Arabia, regretted the continued detention of at least five women's human rights defenders, arrested in 2018, and called for the release of all political detainees. I most recently raised our concerns about the cases of the women's rights defenders with the Saudi Ambassador to the UK on 16 November. We continue to raise concerns and are monitoring the situation closely.

The UK has always been clear that Khashoggi's murder was a terrible crime, and that Saudi Arabia must ensure such an atrocity can never happen again. The Foreign Secretary raised the issue during his visit to Riyadh in March this year. The UK has sanctioned twenty Saudi nationals involved in the murder under the global human rights regime.

The UK is deeply concerned by the ongoing conflict and humanitarian crisis in Yemen. We fully support the peace process led by the UN Special Envoy Martin Griffiths, and urge the parties to engage constructively with him. A political settlement is the only way to bring long-term stability to Yemen and to address the worsening humanitarian crisis.

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