Lord Avebury – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Avebury on 2015-01-15.

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.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

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.