Britain has been challenged to withdraw its support for Saudi Arabia as chair of the UN human rights council panel as the closeness of the UK-Saudi relationship was dismissed as sycophantic by Tim Farron, the Liberal Democrat leader, and Labour called for an end to judicial cooperation with Riyadh.
The outcry from British politicians came after the Foreign Office initially described the announcement of the execution of 47 people, including prominent Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, as disappointing.
The executions sparked protests in Shia-dominated Iran, where the Saudi embassy was stormed, and then led to the Saudis breaking off diplomatic relations with Tehran, quickly followed by Bahrain and Sudan.“The Saudi government systemically abuse human rights,” said Farron, referring to the post Riyadh was given in September.
“They cannot be the chair of the UN committee safeguarding fundamental rights. Britain and other nations cannot continue to sit in meetings with them knowing that people are being executed and persecuted by the kingdom while they judge other nations on human rights.
“They should stand down or be made to stand down. They are utterly unfit to hold this role.”
He added: “The UK government has now got itself into a position where it is almost sycophantic to the Saudi Arabian regime. When things like this happen we need to be clear in our condemnation of them, not just because they are morally wrong, but because they undermine the diplomatic processes that are key to solving the Syria crisis”.
In a slightly tougher response to the executions than that issued over the weekend, David Cameron described the tensions provoked by the executions as “hugely concerning”. The UK condemned the death penalty in all circumstances and had made representations to the Saudi authorities on this occasion, he added.“It is hugely concerning because of course we want to see stability in the Middle East. We want to see good relations between the different countries in the Middle East, not least because that will be absolutely essential for solving the crisis in Syria ,which is the source of so many of these problems,” the prime minister said during a visit to east London.
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