Paul Scully – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Paul Scully on 2016-02-05.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what representations he has made to the government of Burma on the detention of Niranjan Rasalingam.

Mr Hugo Swire

The British Embassy in Rangoon has provided consular assistance to Mr Rasalingam Niranjan since 1 December 2014 when it was established that Mr Niranjan had been detained. That same month we raised the late notification of Mr Niranjan’s arrest in a Note Verbale and reminded the then Burmese government of their obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In May 2015 the Ambassador re-stated our interest in the case, raised concerns about Mr Niranjan’s health and the progress of his legal cases. A further Note Verbale was sent to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in January 2016 re-stating our interest in the case and concern about its progress.