UK government to raise execution of 81 men in one day with Saudi Arabia

Downing Street has said the government will be “raising” Saudi Arabia’s execution of 81 men in a single day with the regime in Riyadh.

It comes after it was revealed over the weekend the kingdom had carried out its largest mass execution in recent history — dwarfing the 67 executions reported in the Gulf state in all of 2021 and the 27 in 2020.

Six years ago, the Gulf state executed 47 people for terrorism offence in one day, including the prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr.

Boris Johnson will reportedly travel to region in the coming days for talks over energy supplies as the UK seeks to shift away from dependence on Russian oil and gas due the ongoing invasion of Ukraine.

But with the kingdom’s own human rights record again under the spotlight, any trip by the prime minister could be overshadowed by the 81 executions — all of which took place over a 24-hour period.

Announced by the country’s state-run Saudi Press Agency, citing the interior ministry in Riyadh, offences ranged from joining militant groups to holding “deviant beliefs”.

The accused were executed after being found guilty of “committing multiple heinous crimes that left a large number of civilians and law enforcement officers dead,” the agency said.

They added: “The kingdom will continue to take a strict and unwavering stance against terrorism and extremist ideologies that threaten the stability of the entire world.”

Asked about the executions, the prime minister’s official spokesperson insisted on Monday that the government did not “shy away” from raising human rights issues with it allies.

They added: “The UK is firmly opposed to the death penalty in every country as a matter of principle.

“We continue to raise human rights issues with other countries including Saudi Arabia. We will be raising Saturday’s executions with the government in Riyadh”.

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Earlier Sajid Javid, the health secretary, told LBC the UK government had a “long-standing relationship with the Saudi government where there’s always a very frank exchange.

“We don’t agree with our approach on human rights — we’re always right to call that out and to talk to them, frankly, about that. At the same time, it is also possible to have an economic relationship.

“You know, whether people like it or not, Saudi Arabia is the world’s largest producer of crude oil and it’s important, especially at the time of a major global energy crisis, that we have these talks with them.”

Rights groups have accused Saudi Arabia of enforcing restrictive laws on political and religious expression, and criticised it for using the death penalty, including for defendants arrested when they were minors.

Soraya Bauwens — deputy director of anti-death penalty charity Reprieve — said at the weekend: “There are prisoners of conscience on Saudi death row, and others arrested as children or charged with non-violent crimes.”

“We fear for every one of them following this brutal display of impunity.”