David Cameron challenged over Saudi Arabian teenager

Dawoud al-Marhoon, who was 17 when arrested, is the second juvenile in recent weeks to face execution by the Saudi regime. “He was arrested as a juvenile, tortured into a bogus ‘confession, ‘ put through a mockery of a trial, and sentenced to ‘crucifixion, ‘ in a blatant attempt to make an example of him”, said Maya Foa, Reprieve’s death penalty team chief.

The same court had also earlier upheld a sentence of beheading and crucifixion on Ali al-Nimr, another young Shia citizen of Saudi Arabia’s Eastern Province.

Prime Minister David Cameron defended Britain’s ties with Saudi Arabia against criticism by opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn, saying Saudi intelligence helped stop a plot to blow up a plane over the United Kingdom. Most of those sentences have been enforced through beheadings.

Additionally, in an effort to squash future protests and ill words against the government, Saudi Arabia has threatened to execute those who “spread rumours” about the government on social media.

“Dawoud was sentenced after a number of secret hearings took place without the presence of his lawyer, who was also blocked from receiving information about appeal hearings”, Reprieve claims. The executions are often carried out in public, with the gruesome results of beheadings and stonings displayed at the scene as a message to other would-be offenders.

The revelation comes after Mr Cameron was questioned on Saudi Arabia’s human rights record in a widely shared interview with Jon Snow.

“I will look to see if there is an opportunity for me to raise it as well”.

“We completely disagree with them about their punishment routines, about the death penalty, about those issues”. Saudi Arabia was elevated to chair of the influential appointments committee last month, prompting fresh outcries of hypocrisy and vote buying in the secretive election.

“Will you step in to terminate the Ministry of Justice’s bid to provide services to the Saudi prisons system – the very body, I should stress, which will be responsible for carrying out Ali’s execution?”

Meanwhile, the United States government is accused of aiding and abetting Saudi Arabia in its war efforts against Yemen. “They’re not the right sort of people to be doing any sort of deal on human rights”.