British police have run more than a dozen training sessions since 2023 for countries that the government has flagged for their poor human rights record, Declassified UK can reveal.
The College of Policing, the professional body for policing in England and Wales, trained police officers from Saudi Arabia and Egypt thirteen times over the last three years, according to a response to a Freedom of Information request.
Both states were designated “human rights priority countries” by the Foreign Office in 2024 due to their high number of executions and arbitrary detention of political dissidents.
Human rights groups said the training implicated the UK in torture and urged the government to scrap loopholes allowing ministers to provide support to repressive regimes.
Yahya Assiri, Saudi Arabian human rights defender and founder of Alqst, a UK-based rights group, said the sustained human rights crackdowns in Saudi Arabia and Egypt showed the true motivation of the participating states.
“It is clear that these states are not seeking such training out of a genuine commitment to reform, but rather to bolster their legitimacy and implicate the UK in ongoing violations,” Assiri said.
While the College would not give a breakdown of the revenue it receives from either country, citing cost limit exemptions, its latest annual accounts show income from international training almost doubled from £0.9mn in 2023 to £1.7mn in 2024.
The College also did not provide any details of what the Saudi Arabian or Egyptian trainings covered, but a 2014 brochure for the programme included modules for “investigations”, “police and the media”, and “human rights”.
Training sessions were run during the same period for the United Arab Emirates, Jordan, and Singapore, all of whom have carried out executions in the last three years.
The UK has a long-standing policy of opposing the death penalty in all circumstances and actively promotes its abolition worldwide.
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Policies in flux
While in opposition, Labour criticised the policies regulating British support for foreign security and intelligence services, including the overseas and justice assistance (OSJA) guidance.
The OSJA guidance requires the government to carry out a human rights risk assessment on foreign institutions to ensure that UK aid and training doesn’t enable abuse like torture and the death penalty.
But human rights groups Reprieve and Amnesty have warned that the guidance has still permitted the UK to cooperate with states even when there is a risk of complicity with torture and the death penalty.
In 2024, under the previous Tory government, the Foreign Office initiated a review of these policies which the Labour government took over.
Two years on, that review still appears to be ongoing, with campaigners and MPs raising concerns that they fear any policy shifts will not go far enough.
The Foreign Office did not respond to questions asking when it expected to finish the review.
The College said it followed OSJA guidance before deciding whether to offer international training and that support for individual countries was a matter for the government.
Felix Jakens, director of campaigns and communications at Amnesty International UK, said it was “disturbing” that UK police were training forces in Saudi Arabia and Egypt.
The two countries have executed more than 770 people over the last three years, according to the human rights group.
The Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office itself warns that in Saudi Arabia, “The death penalty can be imposed for a wide range of offences including murder, rape, armed robbery, repeated drug use, apostasy, adultery, witchcraft and sorcery and for national security offences.”
The professional body receives most of its funding from the Home Office but is increasingly seeking to generate additional revenue as its funding comes under strain.
For two years running, it has requested additional funding from the Home Office to meet overspends.
In its latest annual report, the College said “we aim to increase our income through international and wider market training and consultancy” in response to the financial pressures.
Training risks
MPs have previously criticised the College for its lack of transparency over its international training programme.
A 2016 report by the Home Affairs Committee warned that it “threatens the integrity of the very brand of British policing that the College is trying to promote. It simply smacks of hypocrisy.”
In the past, the College has sought to justify its training on the grounds that it is improving human rights in foreign states.
But Jeed Basyouni, head of Reprieve’s death penalty projects in the Middle East, North Africa, and South Asia, said the training “risks British police getting mixed up in serious human rights abuses”.
“For example, Saudi police continue to arrest child protestors who are at risk of death penalty charges, and child defendants like Youssef Al Manasif and Jawad Qureiras remain at risk of execution after joining protests,” she said.
Luke Edwards, Chief Finance Officer and Director of Delivery, College of Policing, said, “Our international training is underpinned by rigorous human rights assessment and oversight.
“Respect for human rights, the rule of law, accountability and ethical policing is embedded throughout our standards, guidance and training.”
He added: “Before any overseas training is delivered or renewed, activities are subject to UK government human rights checks, including Overseas Security and Justice Assistance guidance.
“We work closely with the Home Office and the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office to identify and mitigate risks through the design and delivery of our programmes. Our international work remains under continuous review.”
The Home Office was approached for comment.
