Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government, further to the answer by Baroness Anelay of St Johns on 23 January (HL Deb, col 513) committing to action on the reported massacre of political prisoners by the government of Iran in 1988 if there were corroborated evidence, what assessment they have made of the report by the UN Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights in the Islamic Republic of Iran, published on 14 August; and what action they intend to take in the light of that report.

The UK Government opposes the use of the death penalty in all circumstances and takes any allegations of extrajudicial killings seriously. Whilst at present we have no plans to raise the 1988 executions, we continue to take action with the international community to press for improvements on all human rights issues in Iran, including ending the death penalty and by supporting the work of the Special Rapporteur.