Iranian Regime: British Citizens

Lord Bishop of St Albans Excerpts

Thursday 27th February 2025 Lords Chamber

[The Lord Bishop of St Albans]

My Lords, I thank my right reverend friend the Bishop of Chelmsford for tabling this debate and for the sensitive way in which she has introduced it. I add to hers my best wishes and prayers for the Foremans, their family and friends, and my thanks to the Minister and all those officials who are working so hard behind the scenes in the FCDO. I also extend my thanks to the ambassador in Tehran and to all those working at the embassy there. I am sure they are doing all they can to resolve this desperately sad situation.

Picking up on some of the comments that the noble Baroness, Lady Northover, has just made, I welcome the Government’s plan to create a special envoy for complex detention cases. Recent events have only highlighted the need for further support for British nationals detained overseas, and I look forward to hearing further details about this. The legal right to consular access promised in the Labour Party manifesto has already been referred to. When do the Government intend to introduce this? It would be an important, crucial step in strengthening the protection for British nationals detained abroad.

My colleague knows far better than me—indeed, she knows personally—the suffering of those under the Iran regime. In 2024, there were at least 901 executions, including 40 in a single week in December. There has been an increased number of women being executed. The use of the death penalty and of politically motivated executions is truly harrowing. Recently, I raised with His Majesty’s Government the cases of six Iranian men accused of “armed rebellion against the state”, all of whom have been sentenced to death. I also urge the Minister and his colleagues to do all they can to intervene in the cases of Behrouz Ehsani and Mehdi Hassani, who are at imminent risk of execution.

Broader issues of nuclear weapons and armaments are not my area of expertise at all, but what I have seen and heard recently regarding China’s support of Iran’s rearmament has caused me deep concern. An increasingly desperate Iranian regime is an increasingly dangerous one. It is facing civil unrest at home, the defeat of Hezbollah and setbacks because of Israel. It is critical that we take steps to prevent Iran’s nuclear escalation, including stricter sanctions on Iranian oil shipments to China.

I fully appreciate that the Minister may not be able to comment on some of the details of planned future sanctions or on the Foremans’ case. We understand that. I am grateful for all he is doing. I conclude by urging that we continue to do all we can as a nation to stand up for human rights, international law and, critically, democratic freedoms not only in Iran but in all those parts of the world where these are no longer found.