Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the human rights record of the Iranian presidential candidate Ebrahim Raisi.

Iran is a Human Rights Priority Country for the FCDO. We consistently monitor the human rights situation there, and call on President-elect Raisi to set Iran on a different course. He must commit to improving human rights and to release British nationals arbitrarily detained there. Our assessment is that the Iranian authorities have suppressed protests through lethal violence, while arbitrary detention and mistreatment in prison prevails, and access to justice remains constrained. We regularly raise human rights with the Iranians at all levels and take action with the international community to press Iran to improve its poor record. For example, in September 2020, the United Kingdom, France and Germany summoned Iranian ambassadors and delivered a joint letter that expressed our deep concern at the grave human rights violations occurring inside Iran.