Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Deputy Foreign Secretary, what (a) assessment he has made of the potential implications for his policies of and (b) representations he has made to his Saudi counterpart on the case of Manahel al-Otaibi.

The FCDO is closely monitoring the case of Manahel al-Otaibi and the British Embassy in Riyadh will continue to attempt to attend trials where possible. The Minister for the Middle East and Human Rights, Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon regularly raises individual freedom of expression cases with the Saudi authorities, alongside other human rights concerns, including in January with the President of the Saudi Human Rights Commission. Saudi Arabia remains a FCDO human rights priority country, in part due to continued restrictions on freedom of expression.