Rupa Huq – 2016 Parliamentary Question to the Foreign and Commonwealth Office

The below Parliamentary question was asked by Rupa Huq on 2016-02-19.

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, what recent representations he has made to his Egyptian counterpart on freedom of expression in Egypt.

Mr Tobias Ellwood

The Prime Minister, my right hon. Friend the Member for Witney (Mr Cameron), discussed human rights issues in Egypt with President Sisi during his visit to the UK in November. He raised a number of concerns, including around the detention of political activists, mass trials and restrictions on freedom of expression. In recent months the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) have continued to raise these issues with the Egyptian authorities. Most recently, Simon Gass, FCO Political Director, met the Egyptian Ambassador to London in February and raised our concerns on alleged human rights abuses.