Britain has issued its sharpest condemnation of the direction of Saudi Arabian human rights policy, describing its mass executions as “repulsive” and “utterly unacceptable in the modern world”. The Foreign Office minister Sir Alan Duncan, answering an urgent question in the Commons, spurned the usual diplomatic niceties, saying the mass executions were “a deeply backward step which we deplore”. Duncan said the Foreign Office would seek details from Riyadh of the crimes of those executed and the due process, but added the UK had been denied access to some trials in Saudi Arabia. There is deep murkiness here that we do not like.”He also equivocated on whether Britain would continue to support Saudi Arabia sitting on the UN human rights council. Further condemnation came from the UN human rights chief, Michelle Bachelet, who described the executions as shocking.

Source: The Guardian April 24, 2019 18:33 UTC