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Ditching Saudi Deal 'May Impact Brit Release'

Dropping a bid for a prison contract with Saudi Arabia amid a row over the threatened flogging of a British grandfather is "a mistake", a former UK ambassador to the Gulf state has told Sky News.

Sir Alan Munro warned that while it was right for the the British government to raise the case of pensioner Karl Andree, pulling out of the controversial justice deal with the Saudi regime may be seen as "a hostile move of retaliation".

And he said it may actually complicate the release of the 74-year-old sentenced to 12 months in jail by a Sharia court after police found home-made wine in the boot of his car in Jeddah last year.

Alcohol is banned under Islamic law in Saudi Arabia where Mr Andree has lived for the past 25 years.

Mr Andree has now served his sentence but has been held in jail for a further two months - and now could face 350 lashes.

His children Hugh, 46, Kirsten, 45, and Simon, 33, fear the grandfather-of-seven will not survive the punishment as he suffers from asthma and is frail after surviving cancer three times.

David Cameron is to write to the Saudi government about the "extremely concerning" case, Downing Street has said.

Number 10 stressed that the scrapping of the justice contract was separate from the intervention in the case of Mr Andree.

Ministers had been under intense pressure not to push ahead with the proposal for a £5.9m training programme because of a number of controversial cases in the kingdom.

But Sir Alan said: "This really not the time for Britain to be turning her back on Saudi Arabia.

"What the situation requires at the moment is contact not cold-shouldering."

He said it was "absolutely correct" for the UK government to raise Mr Andree's case with the Saudis.

But Sir Alan added: "To withdraw the programme which was on offer to the Saudis and welcome too, for a reform of their prisoner management is, I think, a mistake.

"Of course we are right to raise it as we raise other human rights cases with them.

"You must bear in mind the broader picture here.

"I think to withdraw it at this point, too, is going to be very likely to be seen as an act of retaliation here and could indeed complicate the process of commuting the sentence, which may well be eased anyway.

"I think it might well be seen as a form of a rather hostile move of retaliation and could complicate his early release which is what we are all aiming for.

"There's a longer aspect here. Britain has, with a Saudi welcome, for some years now been closely involved in a very steady, if slow, process of liberalisation, of reform in the social scene in Saudi Arabia.

"This prison contract, along with other areas - education, the press and so on, is very much part of that.

"I would say that at this particular juncture too, a very dangerous and uncertain juncture for both of us in terms of security and counter terror. What we need is to thicken up our cooperation here as we have a very strong common interest."