Baroness Tonge – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Baroness Tonge on 2016-03-14.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the government of Bahrain concerning the imprisonment of Ibrahim Sharif for making speeches about democracy.

Baroness Anelay of St Johns

We have raised Ibrahim Sharif’s case with the Government of Bahrain, including at the highest levels, and we understand that he has the right of appeal. The UK encourages Bahrain to respect the rights of all peaceful opposition figures. We call on the Bahraini government to act proportionately in all such cases to protect the universal rights of freedom of expression and assembly. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), most recently raised human rights with the Bahraini Ambassador to the UK, His Excellency Sheikh Fawaz bin Mohammed Al Khalifa , on 8 March.