Roger Godsiff – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Roger Godsiff on 2016-05-04.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent discussions the Government has had with the government of Israel on political prisoners.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The UK has not specifically raised the issue of political prisoners. Our Embassy in Tel Aviv have raised concerns around detention, including Israel’s extensive use of administrative detention. Administrative detention should, according to international law, be used only when security makes it absolutely necessary rather than as routine practice, and as a preventative rather than a punitive measure. On 24 February, our Embassy in Tel Aviv raised the issue of administrative detention with the Israeli authorities.