Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what assessment he has made of the effect on human rights of the actions of the Iranian government during the protests that took place in that country from 28 December 2017.

The Foreign Secretary has made clear that the Iranian people should be able to freely express themselves and to demonstrate peacefully within the law. We look to the Iranian authorities to permit this. We are concerned by reports of mass arrests and deaths in custody, and by restrictions on freedom of expression, in particular the suspension of popular messaging application, Telegram.