§ Lord Hyltonasked Her Majesty's Government:
Whether, following the hanging of Mr Hamzeh Ghaderi, a member of the Democratic Party of Iranian Kurdistan, on 7 October, their "constructive dialogue" with Iran includes pleas for clemency towards 10 other members of the same party under sentence of death. [HL5999]
§ Baroness AmosHer Majesty's Government oppose the death penalty in all circumstances and urge all states to abolish the death penalty. We and the EU continue to make clear our views on this subject to the Iranian Government at every opportunity. We raise with the Iranian authorities specific cases which breach the international minimum standards relating to the death penalty.
The EU agreed on 21 October to establish an EU-Iran human rights dialogue with the hope that such a dialogue will bring about concrete improvements in respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms in Iran. The dialogue has been established without preconditions, and benchmarks for assessing its progress are expected to refer, inter alia, to issues relating to the death penalty.