Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he raised the case of Abdullah al-Howaiti with his Saudi counterpart during his visit to Riyadh last week; and whether he has called for al-Howaiti’s release following the decision of the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention in his case.

Saudi Arabia remains a Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office human rights priority country, in part because of the increased use of the death penalty. The FCDO is carefully monitoring the case of Abdullah Al-Howaiti. The Minister responsible for the Middle East, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon, has raised the case on multiple occasions with the Saudi authorities, most recently in December 2022. During his visit in February, Lord Ahmad discussed a range of human rights issues, including the death penalty. We will continue to monitor and raise the case of Abdullah Al-Howaiti.