Mr. Sheik Riaz Ahmed (Hansard, 30 June 1993)

§ Mr. Madden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs, further to his letter to the hon. Member for Bradford, West, dated 5 March, concerning Mr. Sheik Riaz Ahmed, who was refused entry into France in December 1992, when he expects to receive a reply from the French authorities; when he expects to write again to the hon. Member for Bradford, West; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Lennox-Boyd
The British embassy at Paris sent a formal note to the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs on 17 March to seek a satisfactory explanation as to why Mr. Ahmed was refused entry to France and raising the question of compensation. I will write to the hon. Gentleman as soon as I have a report.
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§ Mr. Madden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what information he has received about the circumstances in which Mr. Graham Noble, of Brighton, was arrested and detained by Serbs in the Krajina; what charges have been laid against him; what access the British ambassador in Zagreb has been allowed to Mr. Noble; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
Mr. Noble was detained near Otocac in Croatia on 6 June and is being held in Knin. The Serbs say they are investigating his activities; we understand that no formal charges have so far been made against him. Her Majesty's ambassador in Zagreb has visited Knin but has not been allowed access to Mr. Noble. The ambassador continues to press for access; Her Majesty's embassy in Belgrade has asked the authorities there to use their influence with the Krajina Serbs to assist in this. The International Committee of the Red Cross is in touch with Her Majesty's embassy in Zagreb about Mr. Noble. Its representative in Knin has reported that Mr. Noble is in good health and is being well treated.

§ Mr. Madden
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to appropriate authorities about the cases of missing persons arising from the abduction of wounded patients from hospitals in Vukovar in 1991; what progress has been made in securing the names of those abducted; what undertakings have been sought about the return of those abducted and about the return of the bodies of those who have died; and if he will make a statement.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
On 17 to 19 December 1992 an international forensic team, working for the United Nations Commission of Experts, conducted a preliminary site exploration of a mass grave 6 km south-east of Vukovar. The team's findings were consistent with eye-witness testimony which alleges that the grave contains the bodies of patients and medical staff members of Vukovar hospital who disappeared during an evacuation of 20 November 1991. The commission plans to carry out a further investigation of the site but does not intend to attempt identification, exhumation and return of all the bodies. This is a matter for the Croatian authorities.

§ Sir Keith Speed
To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will list the nationality and description of those vessels reported to the United Nations as attempting to breach the embargo on the former Yugoslavia in the Adriatic and on the Danube.

§ Mr. Douglas Hogg
I refer the hon. Gentleman to the reply I gave to the hon. Member for East Lothian (Mr. Home Robertson) on 23 April 1993,Official Report, columns 244–45. We now know that the Condor I and Mys Khnistalnyy breached sanctions in early April. Five barges have also been intercepted: Vihac, Kumanovo, Orasac, Velebit and Kaimakalan. All these vessels have been reported to the United Nations Sanctions Committee for investigation. No vessels have been reported to the United Nations for breaching the blockade since April.