Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to his counterparts in Cameroon on the detention and treatment of the journalist Dzenyagha Thomas Awah.

The UK has repeatedly raised the issue of political detainees (including journalists) with the Government of Cameroon, calling for their release and for legal and humanitarian access by groups such as the International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC). Access was recently granted for the ICRC to see 47 Anglophone detainees who had been extradited from Nigeria in January.

The British Government strongly supports press freedom and the rule of law, both of which are fundamental to any democratic society. All journalists must therefore be allowed to work freely and without intimidation.