Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will (a) make representations to the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights on establishing an independent inquiry into the 1988 prison massacre in Ahvaz, Iran, and (b) respond to Early Day Motion 448 of Session 2016-17, entitled Death of political prisoners in Iran in 1988.

The British Government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and takes any allegations of extrajudicial killings seriously. Whilst at present we have no plans to request an inquiry by the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, we continue to take action with the international community to press for improvements on all human rights issues in Iran, including ending the death penalty and by supporting the work done by the Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran. We also raise our concerns directly with the Iranian government and I was able to raise this directly with my Iranian counterpart during my visit to Tehran in August this year.