Oral question asked in the House of Lords, by Lord Lester of Herne Hill (Liberal Democrat). It was answered by Baroness Kinnock of Holyhead (Labour) on Monday, 18 January 2010.

Libya: Human Rights

Question: To ask Her Majesty’s Government whether, following the Human Rights Watch report published on 12 December 2009, they will seek information from the government of Libya about (a) the whereabouts of Jaballa Hamed Matar, and (b) the circumstances in which Hamed Said Khanfoor and others have been detained since March 1990 and their expected dates of release.

Answer: My Lords, last week, the Foreign Secretary issued a statement expressing support for the efforts of Hisham Matar to ascertain the whereabouts of his father. The Foreign Secretary said: ""Hisham and his family need to know the truth now"." Our embassy in Tripoli has raised this with the Libyans and has asked them to investigate further. We take all allegations of human rights abuses seriously and have urged the Libyan Government to address the specific cases highlighted in the Human Rights Watch report, which include that of Mr Hamed Said Khanfoor.

Secondary information