Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they have made to the Egyptian authorities regarding Yara Sallam.

Government representatives from our Embassy in Cairo are closely monitoring cases where prosecutions have been made under the protest law in Egypt. We have called on the Egyptian government to review the Protest Law and have raised specific cases with them, including during the visit by Foreign Minister Shoukry to the UK on 27 October. The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), asked that the Egyptian government address the large number of people being held in detention during his meeting with President Al-Sisi at the UN General Assembly in New York on 23 September. The Government believes that freedom of expression, including the right to protest peacefully, is vital in any democracy.