Saudi Arabia will no longer execute a young political activist who was sentenced to crucifixion for opposing the government, according to British foreign secretary Philip Hammond.
Hammond told the House of Commons that he does "not expect" the foreign state to go ahead with the punishment for anti-government activist Ali Mohammed al-Nimr, who was found guilty for offences dating from when he was 17 years old during 2011's Arab Spring.
Amnesty International claims that Nimr's confessions were extracted under torture following ill-treatment and that he was denied access to a lawyer. The charity said he was sentenced to death on 27 May 2014 for offences that included "taking part in demonstrations against the government, attacking the security forces, possessing a machine-gun and armed robbery" and that his punishment may involve beheading and public display of his body.
The foreign secretary also confirmed that he did not "expect" 74-year-old British national Karl Andree to be punished in a separate case with 360 lashes for possessing homemade wine in Saudi Arabia. He insisted that both cases showed the benefits of the British government policy of having direct dialogue with the Saudis rather than opposing them directly.
"As I have said on many occasions previously when I have been asked to comment on these judicial matters in Saudi Arabia in the House," said Hammond. "Our judgement is we achieve most by speaking privately but regularly to our Saudi interlocutors. Let me say 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 was responding to a question from Labour shadow justice minister Andy Slaughter, who said opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn had repeatedly demanded action from the prime minister on the cases and made it a key point in his speech to the Labour party conference.
My letter to PM about Al-Nimr, Andree & al-Maroon welcoming Saudi prison contract U-turn but asking him to do more
Earlier this month the British government cancelled a £5.9 million contract to provide prison services to the Saudis following an intervention from justice secretary Michael Gove that provoked a cabinet battle.
The Foreign Office values the Saudis as a key ally in the Middle East, and Hammond allegedly accused Gove of being naive about the value of this relationship.