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 his Saudi counterpart on establishing an independent investigation into allegations of sexual assault and torture of human rights activists and other political prisoners in that Kingdom.

HMG have consistently raised- both publicly and privately- concern over the allegations of torture. In 2019 and 2020, the UK signed two joint statements at the UN Human Rights Council setting out these concerns. The Foreign Secretary, Minister Cleverly and Lord Ahmad raised the cases of the women's rights defenders in their latest engagements with the Saudi authorities.