Written question asked by John Bercow (Conservative) on Friday, 2 May 2008, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Wednesday, 7 May 2008. It was answered by Bill Rammell (Labour) on Monday, 3 November 2008 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Iran: Human Rights

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what recent discussions he has had with the government of Iran on human rights.

Answer: We have serious concerns about Iran's poor human rights record. Together with the EU, we remain committed to raising these concerns regularly with the Iranian Government and continue to press them to work towards international human rights standards and fulfilment of their obligations under UN human rights conventions. We have done so more than 30 times this year in bilateral and EU meetings with the Iranian authorities and in public declarations. Senior Foreign and Commonwealth Office officials raised concerns about the execution of juvenile offenders, during the visit of Iran's Deputy Foreign Minister Safari in September. The most recent EU human rights demarche, covering the full range of concerns, was delivered by the EU presidency on 6 October in Paris, as Iran is becoming increasingly reluctant to receive representations about human rights in Tehran. Recent EU statements have focussed on juvenile execution cases, the situation of religious and ethnic minorities, and the proposed draft penal code which, if adopted, would set out a mandatory death sentence for apostasy. We will continue to monitor the situation closely and speak out about human rights violations in Iran.

Secondary information