Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will make representations to his Burmese counterpart seeking the release of Philip Blackwood, Tun Thurein and Htut Ko Ko Lwin from prison in that country.

We continue to monitor these cases and provide consular support and advice to the New Zealand Embassy in Rangoon on Mr Blackwood’s case. Our Embassy in Rangoon regularly lobbies the Burmese government on issues of fundamental rights including freedom of expression. While we have not raised these cases bilaterally, there will an opportunity to raise freedom of expression cases during the EU Burma Human Rights Dialogue on 18 June.