Saudi Arabia
(asked on 20th October 2014) - View Source
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Saudi Arabia concerning the seven executions by beheading there in March 2013.
This question was answered on 28th October 2014
We raised our concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities when the sentences were due to be carried out, reiterating our opposition to the death penalty and requesting that leniency be shown. Government Ministers, our Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and officials from our Embassy raise the issue of the death penalty with the Saudi authorities, bilaterally and through the EU. While we are fully committed to global abolition we recognise that the total abolition of the death penalty is unlikely in Saudi Arabia in the near future. For now, our focus is on the introduction of EU minimum standards for the death penalty as an important first step, and supporting access to justice and rule of law.
We raised our concerns with the Saudi Arabian authorities when the sentences were due to be carried out, reiterating our opposition to the death penalty and requesting that leniency be shown. Government Ministers, our Ambassador to Saudi Arabia and officials from our Embassy raise the issue of the death penalty with the Saudi authorities, bilaterally and through the EU. While we are fully committed to global abolition we recognise that the total abolition of the death penalty is unlikely in Saudi Arabia in the near future. For now, our focus is on the introduction of EU minimum standards for the death penalty as an important first step, and supporting access to justice and rule of law.