Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what discussions she has had with her international counterparts on the prosecution of Aiden Aslin, Shaun Pinner and Brahim Saadoun in Ukraine.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
The Government of Ukraine has confirmed that foreign nationals fighting as members of their armed forces are Prisoners of War (PoW). This includes British Nationals captured by Russian forces or proxies and detained in non-government controlled areas of Ukraine. All PoWs must be treated in accordance with International Humanitarian Law, including the Geneva Conventions. HMG is working with the Government of Ukraine on British Nationals detainees, PoWs and potential breaches of International Humanitarian Law and liaising closely with other international partners.
Asked by: Paul Howell (Conservative - Sedgefield)
Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what recent progress she has made on (a) securing the release of Nazanin Zaghari- Ratcliffe and (b) resolving outstanding repayments to Iran.
Answered by James Cleverly - Home Secretary
We remain committed to securing the immediate and permanent release of unfairly detained British nationals in Iran, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, Anoosheh Ashoori and Morad Tahbaz. The Foreign Secretary and I continue to raise Iran's practice of detaining British dual nationals with our Iranian counterparts. Our Ambassador in Tehran also continues to raise these cases with the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
The IMS debt is a longstanding issue and we have been consistently clear that we continue to explore options to resolve this 40-year old case. We will not comment further as discussions are ongoing.