Britain today urged Saudi Arabia not to carry out a “grotesque punishment” of paralysing a young man for a crime he committed 10 years ago.
Ali al-Khawaher, 24, was reported to have stabbed a friend when he was 14, leaving him confined to a wheelchair.
Saudi Arabia applies Islamic sharia law which allows eye-for-an-eye punishments, but permits victims to pardon convicts in exchange for money.
According to Saudi press reports, al-Khawaher has spent a decade in jail waiting to be paralysed surgically unless his family pays one million Saudi riyals (£177,000) to the victim.
A Foreign Office spokesman said: “We urge the Saudi authorities to ensure this grotesque punishment is not carried out. Such practices are prohibited under international law and have no place in any society.”
