This month the Foreign Affairs Committee published their report on combatting state hostage diplomacy. It confirmed what I’ve been arguing for years – that Ministers have suppressed state hostage cases, causing victims like my constituent Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe needless suffering. As Nazanin’s MP, I submitted evidence to the Committee on the handling of Nazanin’s case and I’m glad to see that the report drew on this.
Vahid Beheshti, a British Iranian journalist and human rights activist, is currently on hunger strike outside the Foreign Office to put pressure on the Government to designate Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) as a terrorist organisation. Nazanin was held hostage in Iran by the IRGC for 6 years, so this month Richard Ratcliffe and I visited Vahid to support his effort to call on the Government to act now and proscribe the IRGC.