2001
1.8 Saudi Arabia
The UK has a number of concerns about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. These include aspects of the judicial system, restrictions on freedom of religion, expression, movement and assembly, discrimination against women and nonMuslims, corporal and capital punishment; and the implementation of basic international human rights norms. A number of British nationals in Saudi Arabia have recently been sentenced to imprisonment and lashes for alcoholrelated offences. We consider corporal punishment to be a violation of human rights and have made this clear to the Saudi authorities.
There have been some positive developments in the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia over the last year. The Saudi Government renewed its invitation, made originally at the UN Commission on Human Rights in 2000, to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers to visit the Kingdom. The Saudi Government also expressed its intention to ratify the UN International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights. The UK looks forward to ratification being completed as soon as possible.
The Saudi Government has permitted the beginnings of a debate on human rights in the national press. Saudi Arabia's official Press code has been reformed, this has led to a wider debate in the press of social issues. A wideranging review of legal and court procedures has been initiated which includes the study of judicial proceedings, the broadening of the right of appeal, the formalisation of the qualification of judges, the introduction of women police officers and the greater segregation of prisoners.
The Saudi authorities are in the final stages of forming governmental and nongovernmental human rights monitoring committees.
The UK Government remains committed to improving human rights in Saudi Arabia through an active dialogue with the Saudi authorities. We regularly discuss human rights issues with the Saudi Government; this includes Ministerial, Ambassadorial and workinglevel activity. In January 2001, the FCO's Permanent Under Secretary underlined the importance of upholding international human rights standards with Saudi Foreign Minister, HRH Prince Saud, in Riyadh. Most recently human rights issues were raised by the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary in relation to the cases of a number of British nationals detained in the Kingdom when Prince Saud visited the UK in June 2001.
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2002
1.12 Saudi Arabia
We continue to have concerns about the human rights situation in Saudi Arabia. These include the implementation of basic international human rights norms; aspects of the judicial system; corporal and capital punishment; torture; discrimination against women and nonMuslims and restrictions on freedom of expression, assembly and worship. Islam is the only religion that can be practised publicly in Saudi Arabia. The open practice of any other religion is forbidden. In 2001, the Saudi authorities detained a number of nonMuslims for practising their religious beliefs.
The UK Government remains committed to improving human rights in Saudi Arabia through an active dialogue with the Saudi authorities. We regularly discuss human rights issues with the Saudi government, including at Ministerial level. The Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary raised the cases of a number of British nationals detained in Saudi Arabia in June 2001, and the Prime Minster repeated this when he visited Saudi Arabia in October 2001. We continue to raise these cases at the highest levels. When former FCO Minister Ben Bradshaw visited Saudi Arabia in March 2002 he raised the issue of religious freedom for nonMuslims. We have expressed our concern to the Saudi authorities about corporal punishment. We, with our EU partners, made our concerns clear to the Saudi authorities about capital punishment, including public executions. In 2001, the UK along with other EU countries objected to the wideranging Saudi reservation that Sharia law would overrule the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW) when there was a contradiction between the two.
In May 2002, Saudi Arabia adopted new criminal justice procedures aimed at modernising the criminal justice system. Among other things, they provide for lawyers to represent defendants and for greater transparency in court proceedings. Saudi Arabia submitted its first report to the UN Convention Against Torture (CAT) since it ratified the Convention in September 1997. As part of this process, on 8 May 2002, the Committee asked Saudi Arabia questions about their use of flogging and amputation by judicial and administrative authorities; the vaguely defined powers of the religious police; prolonged pretrial detention; incommunicado detention; cases of deportation and discrimination against foreigners. The Saudi government has invited the UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, Param Cumaraswamy, to visit Saudi Arabia.
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