Plea to return body

This urgent action concerns the body of Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr’s which, despite repeated requests, has still not been returned to the family.  This followed his execution along with 46 others.  The Saudi’s are showing signs of irritation at the negative publicity they are getting following the mass executions which took place recently and at the increasing numbers of executions generally.

Hardly surprising.  Because, in addition to execution itself, there are a number of other matters which are troubling about his arrest, trial and subsequent treatment.  Namely:

• The family was not informed of his exection
• the authorities have so far refused to return his body
• the court hearings took place without his family or his lawyer being present
• he was denied access to the court documents
• the officers who arrested and interrogated him gave evidence but were not allowed to be cross-examined.

Not exactly a fair system.  Full details of this is contained on the urgent action below and we would be grateful if you could find the time to write to the authorities.  Why does it matter?  Because the UK government continues to turn a blind eye to the human rights violations in that country and would prefer to carry on being a major arms supplier.  This is a time of change in Saudi with a new generation taking over.  The rapprochement with Iran is troubling them and the decline in the oil price is going to cause major problems.  Carrying our executions of the Shia minority who were demonstrating not engaged in violence is not a productive way forward.

Urgent Action

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