Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-01-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what further representations his Department plans to make to the Iranian government on securing the release of Kamal Foroughi from imprisonment.

Mr Philip Hammond

I have raised the case of Mr Foroughi with President Rouhani and Foreign Minister Zarif. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron) spoke to President Rouhani in July 2015 about this case, followed up with a letter on 19 October requesting an update on Mr Foroughi’s welfare and requesting that consular access be granted. The Prime Minister spoke again to President Rouhani on the 19th of January. Mr Foroughi’s case was raised by the Prime Minister in that conversation. We will continue to raise this case, alongside our other consular cases with the Iranian government regularly, at all appropriate levels, including at Ministerial and through our embassy officials in Tehran.