Hilary Benn – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Hilary Benn on 2016-05-18.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent reports he has received on the detention of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe in Iran; and if he will make a statement.

Mr Philip Hammond

We have repeatedly raised this matter with Iran. Iran does not recognise dual nationality and as such does not grant us consular access in these cases. We have therefore not been given any details about Mrs Zaghari-Ratcliffe’s detention. We understand that she has now been released from solitary confinement. The Parliamentary Under-Secretary for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, my Hon. Friend the Member for Rochford and Southend East (James Duddridge) raised our concerns this week with the Iranian Chargé d’affaires.