Lord Patten – 2014 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Lord Patten on 2014-04-08.

To ask Her Majesty’s Government what is their assessment of the number of death sentences handed down so far during 2014 in Egypt; and whether they have discussed the issue with the government of Egypt.

Baroness Warsi

The British Government is aware of 559 people who have been sentenced to death in Egypt during 2014, including 529 by a court in Minya on 24 March. We are deeply concerned by these sentences. We have raised this issue with the Egyptian government, most recently during the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Rt. Hon. Friend the Member for Richmond (Yorks) (Mr Hague)’s meeting with Foreign Minister Fahmy on 2 April. The Foreign Secretary asked the Egyptian government to review these sentences as a matter of urgency and to ensure that the individuals’ human and legal rights were properly upheld. The Foreign Secretary also made a statement on 24 March in which he expressed his concern over the sentences.

It is the long-standing policy of the British Government to oppose the death penalty in all circumstances.