Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations his Department made to the Saudi Arabian government on Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr (a) prior to and (b) after his execution.

Prior to his execution the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the case of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr with the Saudi Arabian authorities at a very senior level. This was a case we followed very closely. I have also raised concerns with the Saudi authorities about the mass execution on 2 January, which included that of Sheikh Nimr Al-Nimr, and the use of the death penalty most recently on 12 January.