Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, whether he has received recent reports on the status of (a) Fariba Kamalbadi and (b) Mahvash Sabet since their re-imprisonment in December 2022; and if he will make a statement.

The UK has condemned the sentencing of Baha'i leaders Mahvash Sabet and Fariba Kamalabadi to a further decade in prison. As I have made clear, Iran's persecution of religious minorities is a serious violation of international human rights law and cannot be tolerated in 2023. On 26 October, the Government reiterated its commitment to holding Iran to account for its treatment of the Baha'i at the UN General Assembly (UNGA) Third Committee. We continue to work with our international partners to ensure that the Iranian regime is held to account for its appalling human rights violations.