Foreign Secretary indicates news represents victory for ‘private’ British diplomacy, and says he believes British grandfather Karl Andree will also be spared from lashes
Ali Mohammed al-Nimr will not be executed for crimes he committed as a child in Saudi Arabia, the Foreign Secretary has indicated.
Speaking to the Commons on Tuesday, Philip Hammond suggested the development in the internationally-renowned case was a victory for British diplomacy.
He was asked by Labour’s shadow Minister for Human Rights, Andy Slaughter, to give an update on the cases of both Mr al-Nimr and Karl Andree, a British grandfather sentenced to 360 lashes in Saudi Arabia in possession of bottles of homemade wine.
Mr Hammond said: “I do not expect Mr Andree to receive the lashings that he has been sentenced to and I do not expect Mr al-Nimr to be executed.”
He added: “As I’ve said on many occasions previously when I’ve been asked to comment on these judicial matters in Saudi Arabia in the House, our judgment is that we achieve most by speaking privately and regularly to our Saudi interlocutors.”
Read more at The Independent
Categories: Death penalty, Foreign affairs, Free speech, Human rights, Middle East, Politics, Saudi Arabia, Top stories, World news
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Mr Hammond does not ‘ expect’ Mr al-Nimr to be executed. I contemplate a more assuring statement
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