Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Questions

At FCDO Questions I asked a question to the Minister about British Nationals Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof who are still detained in Iran. I asked the Minister:

“British Nationals Morad Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof still remain incarcerated in Iran. What is the Foreign Secretary going to do to bring them home?”

The Minister responded:

“I assure the right hon. Lady that we continue to make every effort to support British dual nationals incarcerated in Iran. This remains an ongoing piece of work, and she will understand that it is not always possible, or in the best interests of the individuals, for us to go into details. However, I assure her that it remains a priority for the UK and is one of the reasons why it is important that we maintain a bilateral diplomatic relationship with Iran.”

Mehran Raoof, a British-Iranian national and trade unionist, is currently detained in Tehran’s Evin prison. He is being held in prolonged solitary confinement, serving a sentence of 10 years since October 2020.

Morad Tahbaz, a US, UK and Iranian citizen and environmentalist, who was arrested in January 2018 on charges of espionage on a trip to Iran. He was sentenced to 10 years in prison for having ‘contacts within the US enemy government’. Morad suffers from a series of health conditions such as a history of cancer and the Iranian authorities prevented him from receiving important medical care. He was due to be released on a tag at the same time as Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and Anoosheh Ashoori but was only released in Tehran for a few days before being sent back to Evin prison.

I hope that the Government can successfully bring Morah Tahbaz and Mehran Raoof home to their families.