Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Sudanese counterpart on the imprisonment of Reverend Hassan Abduraheem, Petr Jašek and Abdulmonem Abdumawla.

We welcome the release of Mr Petr Jasek, but remain concerned about the sentencing of Pastor Hassan Abduelraheem Kodi and Mr Abdulmonem Abdumawlla. Officials from our Embassy in Khartoum regularly raise this case with the Government of Sudan, most recently with the Director for Europe at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 25 February.

More widely, we remain concerned at the continued persecution of Christians in Sudan. We continue to raise the importance of freedom of religion or belief in our human rights dialogue with the Government of Sudan. We urge the government to uphold the commitment to religious freedom in the Interim Constitution of 2005.