UK & Saudi justice ministers, Chris Grayling & Dr al Issa sign agreement on judicial cooperation 11 Sept 2014 (MoJ)

Take a look at this. It's an extract from page 6 of the Ministry of Justice Mid Year Report to Parliament, published just before Christmas:

It’s for real. The National Offender Management Service, the government agency that runs prisons and probation services in England and Wales, is being put out for hire by “Just Solutions international” (JSi).  Here’s their website: “As the trading arm for the National Offender Management Service (NOMS), Just Solutions international provides products, services and consultancy to help improve Justice systems across the world. JSi represents NOMS on all commercial issues.” 

Serving the Saudi Arabian Prison Service?

Does anyone need reminding that Saudi Arabia is where Raif Badawi, the Saudi blogger was sentenced to 1,000 lashes and 10 years in prison after creating a liberal, secular website, ‘Free Saudi Liberals’. He faces lashings every Friday for the next 18 weeks, until the sentence is completed.

Laila Bint Abdul Muttalib Basim, a Burmese woman who resided in Saudi Arabia, was executed by sword on Monday after being dragged through the street and held down by four police officers. A video showed how it took three blows to complete the execution.

There have been ten executions in the first two weeks of 2015.

Back in 2006, at the insistence of the Saudis, Prime Minister Tony Blair quashed an investigation into BAe – Saudi corruption.

Saudi Arabia is a major funder of terrorism and violence in the Middle East.

Saudi Arabia funded Al-Qaida.

All but one of the 9/11 perpetrators were Saudi Arabian.

Saudi Arabia a brutal fanatical fundamentalist religious tyranny where torture and execution is the norm and women are treated as chattel.

Another Just Solutions bid last year went to the Sultanate of Oman, offering assistance to the Royal Oman Police (ROP) for the design of a new prison. They're discussing "further learning and development training programmes" . (You can find Amnesty International's dossier on Oman here). Another recent win: £848,000 for helping Macedonia to set up a probation force. (Amnesty's dossier on Macedonia is here).

Take a look at this, another extract from the Ministry of Justice mid-year report:

• “In February 2015, the UK will host the Global Law Summit, a world-class international event to coincide with the 800th anniversary of Magna Carta. The event will showcase the depth and adaptability of the UK legal system and will demonstrate the foundation that our rule of law has created for businesses to flourish.” 

Is this what Magna Carta stands for? A flourishing business in justice solutions for beheaders and floggers?

Further reading 

Ministry of Justice Mid Year Report to Parliament (Published December 2014): https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/391930/ministry-of-justice-mid-year-report-to-parliament-2014-15.pdf

Ministry of Justice:Flogging prison expertise to Saudi beheaders and floggers (David Hencke Jan 2015): https://davidhencke.wordpress.com/2015/01/16/ministry-of-justiceflogging-prison-expertise-to-saudi-beheaders-and-floggers/

The hypocrites have jumped aboard the Magna Carta bandwagon – Neither the Government nor the VIPs celebrating the historic charter’s anniversary give a damn about its principles: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/law-and-order/11331353/The-hypocrites-have-jumped-aboard-the-Magna-Carta-bandwagon.html

Saudi Arabia and Bahrain: UK arms sales trump human rights: http://www.theguardian.com/world/defence-and-security-blog/2015/jan/15/bahrain-human-rights-arms-military

Saudi Arabia’s treatment of foreign workers under fire after beheading of Sri Lankan maid: http://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/jan/13/saudi-arabia-treatment-foreign-workers?CMP=twt_gu

Saudi Arabia publicly beheads woman in holy Mecca as blogger lashings are postponed: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/middle-east/saudi-arabia-publicly-beheads-woman-in-holy-mecca-as-blogger-set-to-receive-second-lashing-9982134.html

It’s official: UK arms sales to tyrants take priority over human rights and torture: http://stopwar.org.uk/news/it-s-official-uk-arms-sales-to-tyrants-take-priority-over-human-rights-and-torture#.VLqxomZ0LKU.twitter