Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what consideration they have given to imposing sanctions on Saudi Arabian ministers responsible for legislation providing for sentences of cruel and unusual punishments, particularly for acts permitted under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights.

Currently there are no sanctions in place for Saudi Arabia and we have not considered imposing them on Saudi Arabia.

The Lord Chancellor and Secretary of State for Justice, my right hon. Friend the Member for Epsom and Ewell (Mr Grayling), and the Saudi Minister of Justice, Dr Al Issa, recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding which will further help us to support Saudi Arabia’s reform efforts in the judicial sector.