Liz Truss slammed for leaving case of British student jailed in Saudi Arabia to authorities

Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has come under fire for dropping the case of a British student imprisoned in Saudi Arabia for more than three decades using Twitter to her officials.

The conservative leader had been asked to intervene in the Salma al-Shehab case , a 34-year-old University of Leeds student arrested while on a visit to see her family early last year.

Labour MP Hillary Benn has written to Truss asking her to take charges Ms al-Shehab's case after her six-year sentence was increased to 34 this week following an appeal.

But a No10 spokesman said on Monday that the case of star The British student had been raised "on an official level at the embassy" - but no minister was in contact with his Saudi counterparts.

Benn said it was time for Truss - favorite to win the Conservative leadership race - to speak to the Saudi foreign minister about al-Shehab's long prison term.

"As Foreign Secretary Liz Truss has talked about building a 'network of freedom' around the world," he told The Independent.

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Benn said: 'So I really hope she talks to her counterpart in Saudi Arabia in order to try to get Salma al-Shehab free ."

The former Labor minister added: "No one should be sent was in prison for 34 years for simply expressing his opinions." ...