Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps his Department is taking to secure the release of Raif Badawi.

We are seriously concerned by Raif Badawi’s case. The UK condemns the use of cruel, inhuman or degrading punishment in all circumstances. We have raised the case at a senior level with the Saudi authorities, most recently the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Right Hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised the matter with the Saudi Ambassador to London.