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The British government has condemned as “abhorrent” the apparent torture of a Jordanian national on death row in Saudi Arabia for drug offences, and called for an abrupt end to executions in the Gulf monarchy.
This is the first time the British government has made this allegation.
After mounting pressure to comment on the issue, Foreign Office Minister David Rutley told parliament that London had raised the case of Hussein Abo al-Khair “at a high level”.
The kingdom had previously committed that it would not impose the death penalty for drug offences, but has suddenly resumed executions.
In response to questions from members of parliament from both his own party and the opposition, Rutley admitted that the impending implementation “does not sit comfortably with what has been said by the Saudi government in the past”.
Kheer, who is represented by campaign group Reprieve, was moved to death row more than a week ago.
He was arrested in 2014 for smuggling narcotics into Saudi Arabia across the Jordanian border, and says he only confessed after being tortured, including being suspended by his feet and beaten on his stomach and legs. was killed. In October, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention said that his arrest was arbitrary, and that he should be released immediately.
“We have already expressed our concerns, particularly about the case of Mr Al-Khair, in which torture was clearly used,” Rutley said. “We find it disgusting.”
Former Conservative cabinet minister David Davis last week wrote to UK Foreign Secretary James Cleverley and the Saudi ambassador to the UK to intervene in the case. Davis raised the urgent question in Parliament on Monday.
Rutley added: “Saudi authorities have executed around 150 people in 2022, a significant increase on the 67 executions last year. On 12 March 2022, Saudi Arabia executed 81 people in a single day and the British Ambassador raised the UK’s concerns with Saudi authorities at ministerial and senior official level in Riyadh on 14 March.
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