Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what discussions the Prime Minister had with President Rouhani regarding freedom of religion and belief in Iran during their meeting at the United Nations General Assembly in New York in September.

Both the Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), and the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), raised a high profile human rights case in their meetings with President Rouhani and the Foreign Minister respectively. The UK’s non-resident Chargé d’Affaires raised the issue of freedom of religion and belief with the Iranian authorities during his visit to Iran earlier this year. The British Government urges the Iranian government to respect the rights of all minority religious groups.