Court action launched challenging UK-Saudi prisons deal

A High Court challenge was launched today against the Ministry of Justice (MOJ) for selling its services to the Saudi Government.

The Gulf Center for Human Rights (GCHR) is challenging the legality of the MOJ’s decision to bid for a contract to provide support through its commercial arm Just Solutions International (JSi) to Saudi Arabia’s Prison and Probation Service.

The conditions in Saudi Arabia’s prisons have been widely criticised. There is currently an international outcry for the release of blogger Raif Badawi, an activist sentenced to 10 years imprisonment and 1,000 lashes.

Melanie Gingell of GCHR stated: “By providing services to the Saudi prison and probation service, the UK is lending legitimacy and indirectly supporting such abuses.”

She added: “It is hypocritical of the government to publicly condemn barbarity such as is meted out to Raif Badawi, while at the same time implicitly condoning such activities by bidding to provide services on a commercial basis to those who perpetrate the abuses.”

MOJ has refused to release any information on the deal.

GCHR are looking to cover the costs of the case by crowd-funding, and have set up a webpage through which donations can be made.