Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, with reference to the Answer of 11 February 2019 to Question HL13338 on Sheikh Ali Salman, whether the Minister for the Middle East called for the release of Bahraini opposition leader Sheikh Ali Salman during his meeting with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to London on 5 November 2018.

The Honourable Lady will have seen my statement of 4 November where I expressed my concerns on the further sentencing of Sheikh Ali Salman. On 5 November I discussed these concerns with the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Bahrain to the UK and again with the Bahrain Minister of Foreign Affairs on 20 February 2019. We will continue to closely monitor the case. The UK has raised this case at senior levels with the Government of Bahrain.