Jamal Khashoggi’s widow has urged Sir Keir Starmer to raise her husband’s murder at his meeting with Saudi Arabia’s crown prince on Monday.
The prime minister will arrive in Saudi Arabia on Monday morning as part of a two-day trip to the Middle East.
Hanan Elatr Khashoggi urged him to raise the case of her husband, a Saudi journalist, who wrote a column for The Washington Post and was regularly critical of the Saudi government.
US intelligence officials have accused Crown prince Mohammed bin Salman of personally ordering Mr Khashoggi’s murder, which took place inside the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018.
Ms Khashoggi told the Guardian: “We look here to your country, to the UK and to the US and most western countries, with respect because you have justice and you care for democratic and human rights.
“Forgetting Jamal’s case does not align with the values of justice and democratic and human rights in your country.”
The prime minister is also facing calls to raise the wider human rights record of Saudi Arabia, as some 300 people have been executed in the country since 2024, the highest ever toll in a single year.
Legal campaign group Reprieve said the PM could help to save the lives of those awaiting the death penalty, including two child defendants.
On Friday, Downing Street insisted that “human rights are always discussed regularly, and we stand ready to discuss them with any country”.
However, Monday’s meeting is expected to be focused on boosting growth at home, with the prime minister saying that such a mission “requires us to strengthen partnerships abroad”.
He insisted his “international agenda starts at home” as he visits the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia on Monday in a bid to build closer economic ties with the two Gulf states.
“That is why I am travelling to the Gulf this week, to build a network of partners for the UK that is focused on driving high quality growth, boosting opportunities, and delivering for the people at home”, he added.
He said the north of England will directly benefit from closer trade ties with the region, as a Manchester-based company specialising in wonder material graphene has announced a deal with the Saudis to use its product in a major project.
While the PM said he would use the trip to make the case to accelerate progress on the Gulf Cooperation Council Free Trade Agreement and deepen research and development collaboration, it is likely to be overshadowed by the fall of the Assad regime in Syria.
A coalition of rebels seized control of the capital Damascus in a lightning offensive overnight on Sunday, 12 days after launching a major operation, with the Syrian leader now seeking sanctuary in Moscow, according to Russian state media.
Saudi Arabia has been communicating with all regional actors on Syria and is determined to do what is possible to avoid chaos following the downfall of President Bashar al-Assad, a Saudi official told Reuters on Sunday.
In a statement, its foreign ministry said it is “monitoring the rapid developments in the brotherly country of Syria and expresses its satisfaction with the positive steps taken to ensure the safety of the Syrian people, prevent bloodshed, and preserve Syria’s state institutions and resources.”
Sir Keir welcomed the end of Mr Assad’s rule, but said it was early days yet in deciding how Britain would choose to engage with those who have overthrown him.
Ahead of his meeting with the Saudi crown prince, the prime minister met with Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed before travelling to Riyadh.
On his way home from the tour of Arab Gulf states, the PM will travel to Cyprus, becoming the first time a UK prime minister to have visited for a one-to-one bilateral meeting with the country’s president for 53 years since Ted Heath visited the island in 1971.
The FCDO has been contacted for comment.
