Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what steps Ministers in her Department have taken in relation to the case of Christopher Emms since his detention in Saudi Arabia on 6 February 2022.

Following the decision by the Saudi Prosecutor's office in August not to extradite Mr Emms, the British Embassy requested that the Saudi authorities swiftly conclude the administrative procedures required to remove the Saudi arrest warrant on Mr Emms, thereby allowing him to depart Saudi Arabia. Most recently, on 5 September, Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon, Minister for South and Central Asia, North Africa, UN & the Commonwealth, raised Mr Emms' case with His Royal Highness Prince Khalid Bin Bandar Al Saud, the Saudi Ambassador to the UK.

Consular officials in Saudi Arabia and the UK continue to provide consular assistance to Mr Emms and his family. We cannot, of course, interfere in the judicial process of another country, just as we would not expect interference in our own. However, Mr Emms' safety and welfare remain of the utmost importance, and the Embassy has engaged with the Saudi government on a number of occasions since his arrest requesting that they expedite his case for welfare reasons.