Ministers have refused to rule out re-electing Saudi Arabia to the United Nations’ human rights council for a second time.

The autocratic petro-state’s appointment to the international body caused international outcry in 2013, with the British Government’s role in the affair under particular scrutiny.

The Government last year was urged to come clean over whether it had traded votes to secure both the UK's and Saudi Arabia's place on the panel.

Leaked diplomatic cables passed to the Wikileaks organisation appeared to show the UK was involved in such a secret vote-trading deal.

Saudi Arabia has one of the worst human rights record in the world, with beheading and crucifixion in regular use and massive institutionalised discrimination against women.

The state beheaded well over 100 people in 2015, a significant increase on 2014.

Foreign Office minister Baroness Anelay this month refused to answer a question by crossbench peer Baroness Deech on whether the UK would back Saudi Arabia’s re-appointment.

“The UK never publicises how it votes in these matters. Saudi Arabia did not need our support in the last election to the Human Rights Council since they were uncontested,” the minister said in a written statement.

Saudi Arabian security forces on parade (Getty)

Saudi Arabia has placed itself at the heart of the UN's human rights scrutiny machine, despite its atrocious record. As well as its place on the council, Faisal bin Hassan Trad, Saudi Arabia’s ambassador at the UN in Geneva, was last year the chairman of a separate independent UN panel of human rights experts.

That influential five-strong panel selects applicants from around the world for scores of expert roles in countries where the UN has a mandate on human rights.

Liberal Democrat foreign affairs spokesperson Tom Brake told the Independent that Saudi Arabia’s position on the council was an “international disgrace” and described the Government’s refusal to disclose how it would vote as “ridiculous”.

“Saudi Arabia is one of the most serious violators of human rights in the world. The regime actively rejects women’s rights, minority rights, and religious freedoms, executes its citizens with alarming frequency and consistently undermines the rule of law,” he said.

“The fact that this country is currently on the Human Rights Council is an international disgrace, and I call on the UK Government to break whatever ridiculous protocol to which they are currently clinging, and state categorically that it will not only vote against Saudi’s re-election to the council, but also that it will actively and vocally encourage all other states to do the same.”

Saudi Arabia’s human rights record has arguably deteriorated since the previous elections to the council as the country has since begun a brutal military operation in Yemen against Houthi rebels.

10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Show all 10 1 /10 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In October 2014, three lawyers, Dr Abdulrahman al-Subaihi, Bander al-Nogaithan and Abdulrahman al-Rumaih , were sentenced to up to eight years in prison for using Twitter to criticize the Ministry of Justice. AFP/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2015, Yemen’s Sunni President Abd-Rabbu Mansour Hadi was forced into exile after a Shia-led insurgency. A Saudi Arabia-led coalition has responded with air strikes in order to reinstate Mr Hadi. It has since been accused of committing war crimes in the country. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Women who supported the Women2Drive campaign, launched in 2011 to challenge the ban on women driving vehicles, faced harassment and intimidation by the authorities. The government warned that women drivers would face arrest. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Members of the Kingdom’s Shia minority, most of whom live in the oil-rich Eastern Province, continue to face discrimination that limits their access to government services and employment. Activists have received death sentences or long prison terms for their alleged participation in protests in 2011 and 2012. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses All public gatherings are prohibited under an order issued by the Interior Ministry in 2011. Those defy the ban face arrest, prosecution and imprisonment on charges such as “inciting people against the authorities”. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses In March 2014, the Interior Ministry stated that authorities had deported over 370,000 foreign migrants and that 18,000 others were in detention. Thousands of workers were returned to Somalia and other states where they were at risk of human rights abuses, with large numbers also returned to Yemen, in order to open more jobs to Saudi Arabians. Many migrants reported that prior to their deportation they had been packed into overcrowded makeshift detention facilities where they received little food and water and were abused by guards. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses The Saudi Arabian authorities continue to deny access to independent human rights organisations like Amnesty International, and they have been known to take punitive action, including through the courts, against activists and family members of victims who contact Amnesty. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Raif Badawi was sentenced to 1000 lashes and 10 years in prison for using his liberal blog to criticise Saudi Arabia’s clerics. He has already received 50 lashes, which have reportedly left him in poor health. Carsten Koall/Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Dawood al-Marhoon was arrested aged 17 for participating in an anti-government protest. After refusing to spy on his fellow protestors, he was tortured and forced to sign a blank document that would later contain his ‘confession’. At Dawood’s trial, the prosecution requested death by crucifixion while refusing him a lawyer. Getty Images 10 examples of Saudi Arabia's human rights abuses Ali Mohammed al-Nimr was arrested in 2012 aged either 16 or 17 for participating in protests during the Arab spring. His sentence includes beheading and crucifixion. The international community has spoken out against the punishment and has called on Saudi Arabia to stop. He is the nephew of a prominent government dissident. Getty

International charities and observers have reported airstrikes against schools, charity hospitals, and wedding parties, with Saudi bombs often falling far from any military targets.

Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein, the UN’s high commissioner for human rights, has said that “carnage” caused by certain Saudi coalition airstrikes against civilian targets appear to be war crimes.

The British Government has publicly remained a staunch backer of the dictatorship, refusing calls from the European Parliament and House of Commons international development committee to stop selling weapons to the autocratic monarchy.

Yemeni children walk on stones in front of buildings that were damaged by air strikes carried out by the Saudi-led coalition during the past year in the Unesco-listed old city of the Yemeni capital Sanaa (MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty)

David Cameron attended the funeral of late Saudi king Abdullah bin Abdulaziz in January 2015, at a cost of £100,000 in British public money.

Official figures reported by the Independent in January this year show sales of British bombs and missiles to the country increased 100 times in the three-month period since the start of the attacks on Yemen. The sales jumped from £9million in the previous three months to £1billion.

Mr Cameron, who stepped down as PM this week following the election of Theresa May to leader of the Conservative party, said in January that Britain’s relationship with Saudi Arabia is “important for our own security”.