Written question asked by Tulip Siddiq (Labour) on Tuesday, 1 October 2019, in the House of Commons. It was due for an answer on Monday, 7 October 2019 (named day). It was answered by Andrew Murrison (Conservative) on Monday, 7 October 2019 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe

Question: To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, whether his Department recognises Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe as a hostage of Iran as per the terms of the UN Hostages Convention.

Answer: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office does not consider that Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's detention amounts to hostage-taking under the Hostages Convention 1979. In particular, the Convention expressly states that it does not apply to situations where the offence takes place wholly within a single State and in which both the hostage and perpetrator are nationals of that State. We do not accept our nationals being used as diplomatic leverage and exercising diplomatic protection in Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe's case formally raised it to a State-to-State issue. We continue to raise her case at the most senior levels; most recently the Prime Minister raised his concerns with President Rouhani on 24 September.

Secondary information