Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what steps they will take to escalate engagement with the Libyan authorities on securing justice for the descendents of Major Farouk Hamadalla who was forced off the British Overseas Airways Corporation VC10 en route from London to Khartoum on the 22nd July 1971.

​The British Government has raised this case with the Libyan Government on a number of occasions, and stressed the need to address the events of 1971, and the complex issues involving the Libyan and Sudanese Governments. I raised the case with the Libyan Ministers of Justice and Foreign Affairs during my visit to Tripoli in April 2018 and followed up with letters to the Ministers on the subject, hand delivered by our Ambassador.

Raising legacy cases with the Libyan Government is challenging in the context of the ongoing political and security situation. However, we continue to raise this case with the Libyan authorities when there is an opportunity to do so and to provide regular updates to Major Hamadalla's family.