Mr Hamish Falconer

Mr Hamish Falconer

Labour — Lincoln

Speaking in the House of Commons on 21 May 2026

Debate

Imprisonment of Craig and Lindsay Foreman in Iran

Contribution

As I just said, we have and we will continue to raise this as regularly as possible with the Iranian authorities, both on some of the consular grounds that have been discussed, and in respect of the wider elements of the case. As the House knows, I cover many very difficult consular cases, and we have discussed others in this Chamber. It is not always public pressure that is most effective in securing releases. We have seen a range of releases across my wider area of responsibility during my time as Minister. Those releases are effected in a wide variety of ways, so I will always give families, and their constituency MPs when they are authorised to speak on their behalf, my best advice. It will not always be the case that public pressure is the best way to secure releases. I regret to say that the Iranian authorities appear to use detentions as a way to try to secure public, as well as private, leverage, and it is not always my advice that people should go public in response.

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