The UK foreign secretary has been accused of “parroting the propaganda” of Britain’s Middle East ally as he refused to condemn the mass execution of 47 people in Saudi Arabia. When asked whether London should be “more robust” in condemning the Saudi executions, Philip Hammond said: “Let us be clear, first of all, that these people were convicted terrorists.” Rights campaigners say that at least four of the 47, including the Saudi Shia cleric Sheikh Nimr al-Nimr, were arrested and executed in relation to political protests. Press TV reports: Nimr’s execution is viewed as part of a heavy-handed crackdown on Shia minority living in the country’s Eastern Province. In 2014, a Saudi court sentenced him to death, provoking widespread global condemnation. The sentence was upheld last March by the appeal court of Saudi Arabia. Appearing on the BBC’s Today program, Hammond also revealed that he had been aware of the mass execution and had called Riyadh not to go ahead with planned killings. Maya Foa, head of the death penalty team at Reprieve, accused Hammond of repeating the Saudi crown prince’s line from an interview with the Economist where he described all those killed as “terrorists”. “By refusing to condemn [...]