Paul Murphy (Dublin South West, RISE) | Oireachtas source

I raise a particular case of human rights abuses in Saudi Arabia and ask that the Taoiseach raise it at the European Council. Yesterday, the Saudi authorities executed a young man called Mustafa Hashim al-Darwish. He was arrested as a minor in 2015 as a result of participation in protests. He was held in solitary confinement and brutally tortured and in those conditions he confessed to various crimes. When he was brought before the court he recanted his confession because it was a result of that torture. Nonetheless, he was executed yesterday. Not only is that a horrific abuse of human rights, it is also a clear breach of the commitments the Saudi authorities have previously made that they do not apply the death penalty to children. This is another example of them doing precisely that. I am completely opposed to the death penalty full stop, but the death penalty applied to those who were children at the time of their alleged offences - and this is a case of participating in a protest - is particularly abhorrent.

The Saudi regime receives substantial support from the United States Administration in the form of funding and arms. However, Saudi Arabia also buys weapons from European Union countries. The question then is whether the EU will make a strong statement about this particular case and about the use of the death penalty in Saudi Arabia.

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