Oral Answers to Questions

Mark Sewards Excerpts

Tuesday 3rd March 2026 Commons Chamber

[Chris Elmore]

We would like all borders, including Rafah, to be open as quickly as possible and not in a phased process. We are making representations to the Israeli Government in that regard.

[Mark Sewards (Leeds South West and Morley) (Lab)]

10. What steps her Department is taking to help ensure accountability for human rights violations against protesters in Iran.

[The Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs (Yvette Cooper)]

In recent days, we have seen Iran attack multiple countries that did not attack it. Just as Iran is a threat to the region and to the UK’s allies, it is also a threat to its own people. Time and again, it has responded to legitimate protests with brutal violence, as we saw in January when thousands of protesters were killed. That is why last month, alongside international partners, the UK led efforts to secure a special session of the UN Human Rights Council and imposed a sweeping package of sanctions to hold Iran to account for its human rights violations. Yesterday, the Prime Minister set out the action we are taking in response to Iran’s attacks on Gulf partners, where UK citizens are currently residing.

[Mark Sewards]

Not content with suppressing its own people, the Iranian regime now lashes out at civilians and our allies across the region. The new head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps is an internationally wanted terrorist, implicated in the 1994 attack on the Asociación Mutual Israelita Argentina in Buenos Aires and responsible for the repression of the “Woman, Life, Freedom” protests in 2022 in Iran. I urge the Foreign Secretary to urge the Home Secretary to implement the Jonathan Hall framework, so that we can proscribe the IRGC as soon as possible. Will she implement sanctions on those responsible for the bloody crackdowns in Iran, including Ali Larijani, secretary of the Supreme National Security Council?

[Yvette Cooper]

My hon. Friend will know that as Home Secretary, I commissioned the Jonathan Hall review exactly because I thought that the legislation might need to be strengthened. He has concluded that it needs to be strengthened to broaden existing counter-terrorism legislation to include state and state-linked threats. We will be taking that forward, and my hon. Friend will know that we keep all proscription decisions under close review.