Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations his Department has made to the (a) Kurdistan Regional Government and (b) Government of Iraq on (i) the imprisonment of Kurdish journalists Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebarito and (b) levels of press freedom in those regions.

The UK Government remains committed to pressing the case for improvements in the human rights situation in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI) and to advocating for human rights for all, including in relation to freedom of expression and the freedom for journalists to do their jobs free from harm. The UK Government, through our Consulate General in Erbil, takes a close interest in the treatment of journalists and human rights activists in the KRI, and we are closely monitoring the cases of Sherwan Sherwani and Guhdar Zebari. We have raised our issues about the case of Guhdar Zebari in public and in private with the Kurdistan Regional Government (KRG) at the highest levels, and a representative from the British Consulate General attended his trial. We have always been clear that journalists and political activists should be free to operate without undue interference from security forces or fear of indefinite detention.