Naomi Long – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Naomi Long on 2014-06-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, if he will press for the immediate release of Meriam Ibrahim and her two children who are imprisoned in Sudan.

Mark Simmonds

Meriam Ibrahim was released on 23 June, which we strongly welcomed. She has subsequently been detained again by the Sudanese authorities. Together with our international partners we are urgently seeking clarity on the precise details of her re-arrest and to seek her immediate release.

Before her short release, the Prime Minister, the Secretary of State for Development and I had all issued statements calling for Meriam Ibrahim to be released immediately. We also raised our concerns directly with the Government of Sudan: my colleague Lynne Featherstone with the Sudanese Foreign Minister; and our Ambassador in Khartoum with other ministers and senior officials. We will continue to press for her freedom