Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to secure the release of Mohammed Nasheed, former President of the Maldives.

The Minister of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for East Devon (Mr Swire), regularly raises former President Nasheed’s case, and those of others, with the Maldivian government, as has the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron). Both individually met Mr Nasheed’s wife and representatives of his legal team on 24 June, after which the Prime Minister called for the release of all political prisoners in the Maldives, including Mr Nasheed. Mr Swire has also discussed these matters with the Commonwealth Secretary General, the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights and many other concerned international partners.