§ Lord Aveburyasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether they will take any action in support of the appeal by the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers for the release of Judge Abdul Amir al-Jamri in Bahrain, and in particular, whether they will ask the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention to visit Bahrain to ascertain, if possible, how long the government intend to keep the judge and other persons in detention without charge or trial.
§ The Minister of State, Foreign and Commonwealth Office (Baroness Chalker of Wallasey)We have seen the statement issued by the Centre for the Independence of Judges and Lawyers. Our Embassy in Bahrain are already making enquiries about Shaikh al-Jamri. We welcome the recent visit to Bahrain by the International Committee for the Red Cross and understand from the UN Centre for Human Rights that the Working Group is considering a visit to Bahrain.