The Execution of Mr. Farzad Bazoft (Hansard, 15 March 1990)

§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Lord Brabazon of Tara)
My Lords, with the leave of the House, I shall now repeat a Statement being made in another place by my right honourable friend the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs on the execution of Mr. Farzad Bazoft. The Statement is as follows:
"The Iraqis executed Mr. Farzad Bazoft this morning. I can recall no recent case in which such a strong and unanimous view was expressed across the world in favour of clemency. That view has been ignored. The House will wish to express its total revulsion. At a time when the international 1649 scene shows many signs of hope and humanity, we have been reminded that there are still regimes capable of such cynical disregard for human rights.
"I have instructed our ambassador to return home. We are suspending all planned ministerial visits. We are stopping the training of Iraqis on Ministry of Defence courses. Students on these courses will return to Iraq without completing their courses. We shall seek support from the Twelve and from our friends and allies in condemning Iraq's action.
"I am sure I speak on behalf of the whole House when I extend to Mr. Bazoft's family my deepest sympathies on this tragic outcome. We shall continue to work for the release of Mrs. Parish and Mr. Ian Richter from their harsh sentences in Iraq.
"We made a strenuous and prolonged effort by many means to save Mr. Bazoft's life. The comments we made have throughout been measured and reasonable. By their action the Iraqi authorities have blackened the name of Iraq across the world."
My Lords, that concludes the Statement.

§ Lord Cledwyn of Penrhos
My Lords, we are grateful to the noble Lord for repeating the Statement. Like the noble Lord and his right honourable friends, we have been shocked and deeply dismayed by the news of Mr. Bazoft's execution this morning. We had hoped that the pleas made by Her Majesty's Government and so many other governments across the world might have persuaded the President of Iraq to commute the death sentence. President Hussein's callous reaction that he was not going to be influenced by Britain was a cruel excuse for committing a savage crime against a young man who at the very worst could only be described as over-zealous as a journalist.
We fear that that barbaric conduct confirms the Iraqi Government's appalling reputation in the field of human rights. It is sad to think that so cruel a government rule the territory that is known as the cradle of civilisation. We are conscious that Mrs. Daphne Parish and Mr. Ian Richter are serving prison sentences there and that steps will continue to be taken to secure their release. We extend our sympathies to them and their families.
We support the measures proposed by the Government as listed in the Statement and assume that export credits to Iraq will be suspended.

§ Lord Tordoff
My Lords, we also are grateful to the Minister for repeating the Statement. Let us just recall what has happened. A journalist travelling on British documents sought in the course of his job to find out the truth about an incident in which 700 people are alleged to have been killed in an explosion. The evil regime of Saddam Hussein did not want the truth about that to come out so it murdered the journalist and locked up his acting chauffeuse.
I suppose that we should not be surprised that the Iraqi regime has descended to that level. It is a small, mafia-like, family group led by Saddam Hussein.
1650 First of all it subjected its own people to a secret police state. It began a war against its neighbour in which it used chemical warfare, the results of which I have seen with my own eyes. It committed genocide against the Kurdish people and stoked up the civil war in Lebanon by supplying arms to General Aoun and others. So the ritual slaughter of one man is nothing to that regime.
It is right that today we should express our horror and fury at such uncivilised behaviour. I am glad that the Government have done so in such measured terms. The prompt action which has been taken by the British Government will, I am sure, have the support of the world community. State terrorism has to be utterly condemned.
The Statement says that we seek the support of our friends in Europe. I hope that that means that we shall seek their support in some form of economic sanctions against the Iraqi regime. The sale of weapons, however non-lethal they may be, must be stopped. I hope that there will be an embargo on the next Baghdad arms fair, whenever that takes place. There may be some economic cost to this country in carrying out such measures but it is something from which we must not shrink. Appeasement of maniacs like that has been seen in the past never to pay off. It will not do so in the case of Saddam Hussein.
Like the noble Lord the Leader of the Opposition, we have great sympathy with Mr. Bazoft's family. We are deeply worried for Mrs. Parish and Mr. Ian Richter.
We have adopted a very low-key approach to this issue so far, but it is quite clear that no matter what words we use, that regime will take no notice of them. Therefore, I do not believe that we need to mince our words today. It is a horrific affair. The Government have acted very properly and very promptly and they will have the support of the whole country.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am most grateful for the remarks of the noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, and the noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, and for their endorsement in principle of the Government's actions today. Having repeated the Statement, I should like to associate myself with much of what has been said in the House this afternoon.
The noble Lord, Lord Cledwyn, asked whether export credits to Iraq would be suspended. The noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, asked whether trade sanctions could be imposed. We do not believe that they would work. Economic reprisals cannot help Mr. Bazoft or those in prison and we do not believe that they would change the policies of the authorities in Baghdad. Furthermore, they are likely to do us more harm than good.
So far as concerns seeking support from the EC, the EC has given us support from the outset. The Twelve have put out a firm statement deploring the execution and the European Parliament has also made a firm statement condemning it. We very much hope that the United Nations Secretary-General will follow up his appeal for clemency last week with a condemnation of this horrific act.
1651 On the question of the sale of weapons, the guidelines on arms sales to both Iran and Iraq are still in place. No sales of lethal equipment or equipment which might enhance the capability of either side to prolong or exacerbate the conflict are allowed. All export licence applications are considered rigorously on a case-by-case basis.
The noble Lord, Lord Tordoff, mentioned the subject of trade fairs and trade missions. I am not aware that another arms fair is to take place in Baghdad in the near future, but we have withdrawn government subsidy from a trade mission which was due to take place. I believe that it had intended to leave today. I hope that that answers the questions raised by noble Lords.

§ Lord Callaghan of Cardiff
My Lords, I associate myself entirely with what has been said, but I have one reservation. The noble Lord said that students would be sent back without completing their courses. How many students are there in that category? Does it include students who are due to take their examinations in a few weeks' time? What purpose will be served and what benefit will be gained from sending back those young men and women who will no doubt be the leaders in their country in some 10 or 20 years' time and might well be our friends? Is it right to visit the consequences of the crime which has been committed by the Government of Iraq upon presumably innocent young men and women who are doing nothing more than studying in our country and to whom we have been glad to offer hospitality?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, the students to whom I referred in the Statement are the military students of whom I believe there are only four or five in this country. Those are the ones who will be sent straight back. Ordinary students, of whom there are a great many, will not be sent back for the very reasons which the noble Lord, Lord Callaghan, gave in his question.

§ Lord Callaghan of Cardiff
My Lords, I apologise to the Minister and to the House. I clearly misunderstood him. I thought that he was referring to all students, not just military students.

§ Lord Gisborough
My Lords, in view of the more enlightened attitude from behind the Iron Curtain, will my noble friend the Minister say what the reaction from the Soviet Union has been and whether it has taken the same kind of action?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I am afraid that we have not yet had a chance to hear reactions from many parts of the world, including the Soviet Union. We very much hope that it will condemn the action just as most of the rest of the world condemned the sentence when it was passed last weekend. Perhaps I should have said before that, as noble Lords will probably know, my right honourable friend the Secretary of State is going to Muscat tomorrow for the Gulf Co-operation Council-EC meeting. He will 1652 take the opportunity there to raise the matter with both his European Community partners and the Gulf states involved.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, is the noble Lord aware that some people will believe that the government response is not adequate? Is he further aware that some people believe that the civilised approach of this Government and this country is seen as weakness by those fascist rulers of Iraq and other countries? Will the noble Lord say whether the Iraqi ambassador is to be expelled? Over the last couple of days, he has appeared on our television as an apologist for that abhorrent regime. Will the Minister also explain why the British Government are not prepared to take trade sanctions against Iraq and to encourage other countries to do the same? They would be the most effective form of expressing this country's and the civilised world's horror and abhorrence at the vicious sentence which was passed and carried out, without any right of appeal and in spite of world opinion, against an innocent victim.

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, I believe that the Government have made a firm response to the Iraqis on this matter. We do not believe that it would do any good to break diplomatic relations with Iraq. I believe that it is important now, more than at any time, for the sake of Mrs. Parish and Mr. Richter, not to mention the other 2,000 or so Britons who live in Iraq, that we should have diplomatic relations with that country. We do not intend to expel the Iraqi ambassador. We are bringing back our ambassador to consult him about the wider implications of our relations. I feel sure that the expulsion of the Iraqi ambassador here in London would almost certainly lead to the expulsion of our ambassador from Baghdad. That is not what we want at the moment, as I have explained.
I do not believe that trade sanctions would help in this matter. They cannot help Mr. Bazoft or those in prison. They would be unlikely to change the policies of the authorities in Baghdad and they would lead to job losses in this country which we do not want to see.

§ Lord Stoddart of Swindon
My Lords, I must protest at that. A man's life has been forfeited and the Minister talks about job losses in this country. Have we no morals left?

§ Lord Brabazon of Tara
My Lords, that is not the point. The point is whether we think those sanctions would have any effect on the regime in Baghdad. That is the point that I am trying to get across.