Lieut.-Colonel MALONEasked the Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs whether he is aware that Miss May Kathleen Ydlibi, British subject, is interned by the French authorities at 82, Rue des Tisons, Alencon (Orne), France, whether he is aware of the circumstances; whether he will state the charge under which she is interned; whether he is aware that solicitors have been obstructed from proceeding to France by the French authorities, although they have received passports from the British Foreign Office; and whether he will take steps to have the matter inquired into immediately, with a view to the speedy release of this woman?
Mr. HARMSWORTHThe lady referred to in the question is interned in France, but I am not, aware of her present address. Inquiries were made of the French Government in December last, and His Majesty's Government have been informed that Kassib Ydlibi, father of this lady, was arrested by the French authorities at Djibouti as an Ottoman subject, and sent to France in order to undergo punishment for an offence against the common law in having assisted the enemies of the Allied Powers. The French Government stated that after his condemnation, being considered an658W enemy, he was interned with his wife and daughter in a concentration camp, and that he has never furnished to the French authorities proof that he is an Egyptian or a Cypriot under British protection. Miss Ydlibi, it was added, was associated with her father in the activities for which he was convicted. I have no evidence to the effect that solicitors have been obstructed by the French authorities from proceeding to France, although passports have been issued to them. In answer to the last part of the question, the French Government have announced that the question of the liberation and deportation of interned Ottoman subjects in France was receiving their consideration, and that they proposed to permit Ydlibi and his family to benefit by any arrangement which might be made in that direction.