Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Iran concerning the case of Atena Farghadani.

We are concerned by the continuing detention of Ms Farghadani, apparently for drawing satirical cartoons and describing her ill-treatment in prison. Our non-resident Chargé d’affaires discussed freedom of expression in Iran when he met the Iranian Foreign Ministry’s Director General for Human Rights in May 2015. We have not raised the detention of Ms Farghadani specifically.