Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations (a) he has and (b) officials of his Department have made to the Government of Iraq on abolishing the death penalty in that country in the last 12 months.

It remains a long-standing policy of the United Kingdom to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle. The Government of Iraq is well aware of our position on this issue, which officials have regularly reiterated in the past 12 months, both in direct discussions and in multilateral fora such as the UN Human Rights Council.