BRITAIN, France and Germany are piling pressure on the Saudi Government to provide “credible facts” about the death of dissident journalist Jamal Khashoggi after Dominic Raab made clear the Gulf state’s current explanation was not believable.

In a clear warning to Riyadh, senior ministers from the three allies say: "The quality and significance of the relationship we have with the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia also rests with the respect we have for the norms and values to which the Saudi authorities and we are jointly committed under international law."

In a separate development, senior MPs from all the opposition parties at Westminster have demanded Theresa May acts against Riyadh, calling on her to condemn its “reckless and barbaric behaviour,” to immediately suspend arms sales to it, and support a full independent inquiry into the alleged murder of Mr Khashoggi.

Almost three weeks after the Saudi journalist disappeared following his visit to the Gulf state’s consulate in Turkey, Riyadh, amid mounting condemnation, finally admitted the journalist did die there - after a fight.

Turkish Government sources have claimed Mr Khashoggi, a high-profile critic of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman and the Saudi Government, was tortured and murdered by a 15-strong “death squad,” flown in especially for the task from Riyadh.

Initially, the Saudis dismissed the allegations as baseless but failed to provide any explanation as to how the Washington Post columnist had disappeared after entering the consulate on October 2.

A number of Saudi nationals have since been arrested while deputy intelligence chief Ahmad al-Assiri and Saud al-Qahtani, a senior aide to the Crown Prince, have been dismissed, state TV has reported.

In a joint statement Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary, and his French and German counterparts, Jean-Yves Le Drian and Heiko Maas, called for "credible facts" about the “shameful” death of Mr Khashoggi.

"Nothing can justify this killing and we condemn it in the strongest possible terms,” they declared.

"Defending freedom of expression and a free press are key priorities for Germany, the United Kingdom and France. The threatening, attacking or killing of journalists, under any circumstances, is unacceptable and of utmost concern to our three nations."

They said they noted the Saudi’s preliminary findings but stressed how there was an “urgent need for clarification” of what exactly happened on October 2; “beyond the hypotheses that have been raised so far in the Saudi investigation, which need to be backed by facts to be considered credible”.

The three ministers called for more effort to establish the truth in a “comprehensive, transparent and credible manner”.

They added: "We will ultimately make our judgement based on the credibility of the further explanation we receive about what happened and our confidence that such a shameful event cannot and will not ever be repeated.”

Meanwhile at Westminster, senior figures from all the main opposition parties in a letter to the Prime Minister, organised by the SNP, say that the “horrifying reports” about Mr Khashoggi’s death are just the latest in a litany of charges before the Saudi Government and include war crimes in Yemen, the jailing of activists, the oppression of various groups, including LGBT communities and religious minorities and the unprecedented number of executions.

“Given the repeated nature of these violations and atrocities, it is now hard to imagine what crime the Saudi Government would need to commit for the UK Government to condemn them,” says the letter.

The party figures, who include the SNP’s Stephen Gethins, Labour’s Emily Thornberry and the Liberal Democrats’ Christine Jardine tell Mrs May: “It cannot be business as usual with a regime that displays blatant contempt and disregard for international law and human rights. The consistent inaction of your Government is utterly incompatible with our most basic value as a democracy.

“We regard it as unacceptable that the UK Government not only remains silent but actively enables this Saudi regime.”

In response, the Foreign Office said the opposition MPs had presented a totally inaccurate picture, stressing how, since Mr Khashoggi first went missing, the UK had been actively calling for answers and a full investigation into what had occurred.