Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Anderson of Swansea (Labour). It was answered on Monday, 9 June 2008.

Deportation: Iran

Question: My Lords, in their region the Iranians are comparatively tolerant of ““people of the book””, be they Jews or Christians. The problem arises with apostates: those who convert to Christianity either in their own country or in the United Kingdom. The issue is therefore to test the genuineness of that conversion, because it is clear that there will be discrimination if converts are forced to return to Iran. Can my noble friend assure the House that those who take the decisions in the tribunals are given sophisticated briefing about the problems that are likely to confront converts if they are forced to return to Iran?

Answer: My Lords, my noble friend makes an important point. I confirm that the caseworkers are given clear guidance about the questions to ask and how they should look at this issue. He is absolutely right that those who have converted are possibly most at risk. That is also why we are waiting for this judgment to come out, but we have no evidence at the moment of anyone having been executed in Iran on the basis of conversion to the Christian religion.

Secondary information