GENEVA — The Kingdom of Saudi Arabia has confirmed on Tuesday, before the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) here, that it is always working in updating its national regulations and legislations such that they are in conformity with its international commitments, do not contravene the Islamic Shariah and contribute to enhancing and protecting human rights, Saudi Press Agency said.

In a statement, the Kingdom’s ambassador to the UN in Geneva Dr. Abdulaziz Al-Wassil said: “The Kingdom has taken important and essential steps via the Kingdom’s Vision 2030 during the past few years in all fields of human rights.”

“The investigations in the case on the murder of citizen Jamal Khashoggi are still under way, and any raising of this subject in the international forums does not serve the ongoing investigations in the Kingdom.

“Therefore, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia reaffirms its commitment to hold accountable the perpetrators of this crime and bring them to justice as well as to display transparency in publishing the facts such that they do not affect the progress of the trial,” he said.

Dr. Wassil stressed that capital punishment in the Kingdom is not implemented unless it is the gravest crime and in a very limited scope. All the trials of suspects in these crimes take place according to related international criteria.

He expressed great concern about the information mentioned by the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in her statement that there is evidence indicating the continuation of the persecution of the Rohingya minority in Rakhine State.

In her statement, she said that the authorities were imposing restrictions preventing humanitarian aid from reaching the needy in Rakhine State. Dr. Wassil called on the international community to shoulder it responsibilities to exert pressure on the Myanmar government to end its violations.

Dr. Wassil also expressed deep regret over the statement of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights ignoring the suffering of the Palestinian people in the occupied Palestinian and Arab lands.

He stressed the importance of the Palestinian people’s rights including sovereignty over their occupied lands since June 1967 and their right to establish the Palestinian state with East Jerusalem as its capital. — SPA