Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether his Department has taken steps to help ensure the safety of protestors in Iran.

Since the start of protests in September, the Foreign Secretary has summoned Iran's most senior diplomat in the UK five times to demand an end to the Iranian authorities' worsening crackdown on protests and their use of the death penalty. Lord Ahmad had reiterated this message in his conversations with the Chargé d'Affaires, most recently on 20 December. It has also been relayed to the Iranian authorities through our ambassador in Tehran. With our partners, the UK has also secured the removal of Iran from the UN Commission on the Status of Women and the establishment of a UN investigation into the regime's appalling human rights violations. We will continue to hold Iran to account for its actions.