U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay addresses the OSCE permament council in Vienna July 3, 2014. REUTERS/Heinz-Peter Bader
GENEVA (Reuters) - The top United Nations human rights official called on Saudi Arabia on Thursday to release activists he said had been arrested for peacefully demanding freedoms, halt the use of lashings and investigate their alleged ill-treatment.
Navi Pillay, in a rare statement critical of the kingdom, currently an elected member of the U.N. Human Rights Council, voiced dismay at the conviction and "harsh sentencing" of Walid Abu Al-Khair.
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