Iranian Regime: British Citizens

Baroness Northover Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[Baroness Northover (LD)]

My Lords, I thank the right reverend Prelate for securing this debate and for her introduction to it. As she said, she has very personal knowledge of this regime. As she knows, I knew her brother when we were both students together. I remember still his return to Iran, thinking that he was safe.

It was with a sinking heart that I heard about these new cases in Iran. The battles that we had over Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, who was wrongly detained for so many years, seemed to go on for ever. I am sure that she and her family thought the same. It was very clear that Iran was using her as a pawn—a hostage—to secure what it wished. The same was clearly true of Anoosheh Ashoori, as it was for citizens of other countries. And, as the right reverend Prelate has said, those in Iran are themselves under great pressure. We are glad that both of our dual nationals were finally released, but they lost years of their lives. We were always told that publicity did not help and to leave this to the diplomats, but it was Richard Ratcliffe’s efforts that brought his wife home.

It seems we do not know how many British nationals, including dual nationals, are being detained in Iran. However, as the right reverend Prelate said, over 60 foreign and dual nationals may have been detained there since 2010, 16 of whom apparently had British or dual British nationality. Could the Minister update us on the numbers of British citizens the Government believe are currently detained there?

The Iranians standardly accuse those whom they have detained of spying. Now we have the cases of Craig and Lindsay Foreman—tourists who trusted that they could safely explore the wonders of Iran on their journey to Australia. The FCDO rightly advises against such travel; one supposes that people may think that they are just ordinary citizens and that the Iranians are friendly people, so surely they will be of no interest to the country’s leaders, but innocent citizens can still be seen as useful pawns to such a regime.

The UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has considered several cases in recent years, identifying “systemic arbitrary detention” in Iran and describing this as

“a serious violation of international law”.

We know that Iran has been under serious pressure in the current Middle East conflict, as have its proxies in neighbouring areas. Seizing innocent citizens of other countries may seem an easy way of securing leverage.

I ask the Minister for an update on the Canadian-led initiative, which we have discussed before and he was involved in, which seeks to tackle such hostage-taking by regimes. I note that this has now been endorsed by 80 countries, but what actions are recommended and what strategies are proposed? There is always the tension that ransoms paid, in whatever way, can encourage further taking of hostages. Other countries, though, go about the release of their citizens differently from how the UK approaches it.

When we were talking about Nazanin’s case, as the Minister will doubtless remember, there was discussion of the use of Magnitsky sanctions against individuals who played a part in her detention. Without going into particular sanctions, is this a route he still regards with favour? We knew that the revolutionary guard drove the taking of such hostages; what is the present Government’s view of the revolutionary guard?

As the cases dragged on in Iran, the Foreign Affairs Select Committee inquired in 2023 into such hostage-taking. It criticised the then Government for being

“too slow—or entirely unwilling—to call out countries guilty of state hostage taking”.

Among other things, it recommended the appointment of a director of arbitrary and complex detentions to advocate for detainees and their families. The then Government rejected this proposal. However, the new Government, in their manifesto, stated that they would strengthen support for British nationals abroad. They also promised to introduce a new legal right to consular assistance in cases of rights violations, which Redress and Prisoners Abroad have advocated. Can the Minister tell us when this will be introduced?

In November last year, the Foreign Secretary said that he hoped to announce the appointment of a special envoy for complex detention cases. However, he could not give a date for this. Several months on, will the Minister, facing this debate, now announce this?

Clearly, in the latest case, because these are not dual nationals, the UK should be able to get consular access, which Iran denies to dual nationals. Is that being granted?

We are in a world where the allies on whom we thought we could rely are now allying with those whom we identify as a threat to global stability. It is a topsy-turvy world, except that this is perhaps too warm a description. As international order is under threat, our citizens, as well as the national citizens of Iran who we have heard about, are potentially at greater risk. I look forward to the Minister’s response on how the new Government are addressing this.