Oral Answers to Questions

Fiona Bruce Excerpts

Thursday 18th June 2015 Commons Chamber

The right hon. Member for Meriden, representing the Church Commissioners, was asked—

[Fiona Bruce (Congleton) (Con)]

4. What representations the Church of England has made on the protection of Christians from persecution in Iran.

[The Second Church Estates Commissioner (Mrs Caroline Spelman)]

The Church of England is aware of the plight of the Christian community in Iran and works closely with the Bishop of Cyprus and the Gulf, the right Reverend Michael Lewis, and the Bishop of Iran, the right Reverend Azad Marshall, to give support where it can.

[Fiona Bruce]

The recent report on the persecution of Christians in Iran by Christians in Parliament with the all-party group on religious freedom and belief recounts serious neglect of human rights of Christians in Iran. Surveillance, arbitrary arrests, lashings, torture and severe prison sentences are common. What steps is the Church taking to encourage respect and tolerance for Christians and for those of other minority faiths in Iran and elsewhere in the middle east?

[Mrs Spelman]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on the report produced by the APPG. I attended the meeting at which some of those recommendations were put to a Foreign Office Minister yesterday. The Archbishop of Canterbury invited the Grand Imam of al-Azhar to both Houses of Parliament to express encouragement to religious and political leaders to speak out in support of moderate voices in the region.