The Lord Bishop of Coventry – 2015 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by The Lord Bishop of Coventry on 2015-10-05.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the decision by the Supreme Court in Saudi Arabia to uphold the sentencing of Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was arrested as a juvenile, to death by crucifixion for seeking democratic reforms in that country.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

The British Government is very concerned about the case of Ali Mohammed Al-Nimr. We have raised this case with the Saudi Arabian authorities at a senior level including by the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond). We will continue to follow this case closely. The UK opposes the death penalty in all circumstances and in every country, especially in cases which do not meet the minimum standards defined by the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights. This includes the execution of a minor and the use of the death penalty for a crime which isn’t deemed “the most serious”.