Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what information his Department holds on the role of the Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps in human rights violations in Iran.

The human rights situation in Iran is a serious concern and the Foreign and Commonwealth Office has designated Iran as a human rights priority country. The latest report by the UN Special Rapporteur for Human Rights in Iran sets out the role of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) in human rights violations in Iran, in particular, their role in the harassment and detention of minority groups. Several prominent members of the IRGC are listed under EU human rights sanctions and I was able to raise our wider human rights concerns with my Iranian counterpart during my visit to Tehran in August this year.