Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will raise the release of political prisoners in Eritrea with his Eritrean counterpart.

We remain deeply concerned at the continued arbitrary detention of political prisoners in Eritrea, including some detained without trial since September 2001. Our Ambassador in Asmara and EU counterparts regularly raise this with the Eritrean Government, calling for their release. I have raised human rights issues with the Foreign Minister and, most recently, FCO officials raised the issue with the Eritrean Ambassador in March 2014. We will continue to do so at every opportunity