“The British Government knows we are under threat, they know what level of danger we face from the regime, but when the police send people round they send people who know nothing about it,” he said. “The heat is rising.

“If the UK and the UAE (United Arab Emirates) know that the police don’t care then that will make them more brave in doing violence.

“I think they are still afraid of the UK, but will they carry on being afraid? I don’t know.”

Saudi Arabia is a strategic ally of the UK, with significant military ties and economic joint ventures.

Last November the Telegraph reported that Matthew Bridges, a British academic who was imprisoned and tortured in the UAE in 2018, was currently being followed in London.

Both he and his barrister, Rodney Dixon QC, have also been victims of the Pegasus phone spyware, as has Mr Assiri.