Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps he takes to emphasise the persecution of Christians and other religious minorities in Iran during discussions with his Iranian counterpart.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We remain deeply concerned by the ongoing discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran. We have called for the Iranian government to protect the rights of all minority groups and end the persecution of individuals on the basis of their faith. We last raised these issues with the Iranian government during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October.Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what his policy is on tackling the persecution of Christians in the Middle East; and if he will make a statement.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
Conflict and instability in the Middle East has made the plight of Christians and other religious minorities a significant concern. In many cases religious minorities are facing extremely difficult circumstances. Many communities are suffering, and indeed some countries risk seeing the disappearance of communities that have existed there peacefully for centuries.
We deplore all discrimination against religious minorities and constraints on their freedom to practise their faith. We regularly urge all governments in the Middle East to ensure the protection of all religious minorities. We encourage them to develop inclusive political systems that represent all of their citizens.
We work proactively in countries where we can to tackle these issues. For example, in Yemen the Middle East and North Africa Conflict Pool is delivering a grassroots community reconciliation initiative to ease tensions between different communities. In Syria a number of British Government funded projects have brought together religious leaders from all denominations (including Alawi, Christians, Kurds, Druze and Sunnis) to foster greater understanding between faiths and support reconciliation. In Tunisia, our Arab Partnership Initiative funds a project run by the Centre for the Study of Islam and Democracy which considers, amongst other things, the protection of religious minorities under the new constitution.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Behnam Irani.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised this individual case with the Iranian government.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Abdolreza Ali Haghnejad and Silas Rabbani, sentenced to prison because of their religious beliefs.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government.Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on Farshid Fathi, Homayoun Shokouhi, Alireza Seyyedian and other Christians imprisoned in Iran.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government.
Asked by: Joe Benton (Labour - Bootle)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Iranian counterpart on (a) Vahid Hakkani, (b) Mojtaba Seyyed Alaedin Hossein and (c) other Christians imprisoned for their faith in Iran.
Answered by Tobias Ellwood
We last raised with the Iranian government our ongoing concerns over the detention of prisoners of conscience and discrimination against Christians and other minority religious groups in Iran during our interventions at the Universal Periodic Review of Iran’s Human Rights at the UN on 31 October. We have not raised these individual cases with the Iranian Government.