§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what is the total number of British diplomats remaining in British interests sections of friendly powers accredited to the Syrian Arab Republic, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People's Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahirya; and what are the equivalent number of persons purporting to be diplomats from those same countries currently based in friendly embassies in Britain.
§ Mrs. ChalkerThere are three diplomatic staff in the British interests section of the Australian embassy in Damascus, one in the British interests section of the Italian embassy in Tripoli and one in the British interests section of the Swedish embassy in Tehran. There are three diplomatic staff in the Syrian interests section of the Lebanese embassy in London, one in the Libyan interests section of the Saudi Arabian embassy and one in the Iranian embassy.
§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will list all known examples of involvement in terrorist incidents since 1974 of persons purporting to be diplomats accredited to the embassies in London of the Syrian Arab Republic, the Islamic Republic of Iran and the People's Socialist Libyan Arab Jamahirya, indicating in each case whether any diplomats subsequently returned to their country of origin at the request of the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.
§ Mr. MellorIn April 1984, the staff and occupants of the Libyan people's bureau in St. James's Square were expelled following an incident in which WPC Yvonne Fletcher was murdered by a shot fired from the people's bureau.
Following the arrest of Nezar Hindawi in April 1986, the Syrian Ambassador was asked to waive the diplomatic immunity of three attaches on his staff to enable police to question them about their involvement with Hindawi. When the Syrian authorities refused to meet our request, we informed the Ambassador that we required the attaches to be withdrawn within seven days.
On 24 October 1986, following the conviction of Nezar Hindawi, we announced that the United Kingdom was breaking off diplomatic relations with Syria. The Ambassador and the remaining seventeen members of his staff were given seven days in which to leave the country.