Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what representations they have made to the government of China about parole for Dr Gulshan Abbas on humanitarian grounds.

We are concerned at reports of the sentencing of Dr Gulshan Abbas to 20 years in jail, and note the health concerns expressed by her family. The Foreign Secretary has raised our serious concerns about the human rights situation in Xinjiang directly with his counterpart, China's Foreign Minister and State Counsellor Wang Yi. The UK has also repeatedly taken a leading international role in holding China to account internationally. For example, our joint statement at the UN General Assembly Third Committee in October 2020, where alongside Germany, we brought together a total of 39 countries to express grave concern at the situation in Xinjiang, and called for China to allow unfettered access to the region for the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and other independent observers.