Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what representations they are making to the government of Egypt, following the release of Peter Greste, on behalf of Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed.

The Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my right hon. Friend the Member for Runnymede and Weybridge (Mr Hammond), and the Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my hon. Friend the Member for Bournemouth East (Mr Ellwood), make regular representations to the Egyptian government to press them to take further action to ensure the release of other journalists from prison, to release political detainees and to relax restrictions on civil society. The Foreign Secretary made a press statement on 2 February welcoming the release of Peter Greste but stating his concern that Mohamed Fahmy and Baher Mohamed remain in detention. He called on the Egyptian authorities to review their cases and the sentences of those tried in absentia as a matter of urgency.

We continue to believe that stability and prosperity in Egypt is dependent on open and inclusive politics and on full respect for the rights contained in the Egyptian constitution.