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Written question asked by Lord Hylton (Crossbench) on Thursday, 9 January 2020, in the House of Lords. It was due for an answer on Thursday, 23 January 2020. It was answered by Lord Ahmad of Wimbledon (Conservative) on Monday, 20 January 2020 on behalf of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Egypt: Children

Question

To ask Her Majesty's Government what steps they intend to take to prevent children in Egypt from being included in mass trials and sentenced to death.

Answer

It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. We have regularly made our position clear to the Egyptian Government.

We have particular concerns in Egypt regarding Article 122 of the Child Law in Egypt and cases involving the death penalty and juveniles. Our Embassy in Cairo has raised our concerns with the Egyptian authorities and asked them to take action to release political detainees who remain imprisoned and to review mass judicial decisions.

I raised our concerns in my interim Autumn Statement on Human Rights Priority Countries on 22nd October 2019. Our ambassador in Cairo repeated these concerns in a meeting with the Egyptian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 23 October 2019.

Secondary information

Type
Written question
Reference
HL262
Session
2019-21
Subjects
Children Capital punishment Trials Egypt
Link
View this Written question on www.parliament.uk