Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what progress he has made in the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue on protecting freedom of speech in Sudan.

Freedom of speech is a core part of the human rights element of the UK-Sudan Strategic Dialogue. We continue to make clear to the Government of Sudan that it is crucial that the Sudanese people should be allowed to exercise their right to freedom of expression, however little overall improvement has yet been made on this issue. Both I and officials at the UK Embassy in Khartoum continue to raise these concerns with the Government of Sudan at the highest level.