Aras Amiri was a Hornsey & Wood Green resident and working for the British Council when she was forced to spend over two years in an Iranian prison on trumped up charges of espionage.

Iran’s shameful policy of imprisoning innocent British citizens and residents to use as diplomatic leverage is sadly not confined to Aras’ case.  During the period she was imprisoned, I worked closely with my colleague Tulip Siddiq, the constituency MP of Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, to raise our concerns about Iranian hostage diplomacy and urge the Government to act.  I met with the then Foreign Secretary, raised with the Prime Minister and was in regular contact with Aras’ partner and the Foreign Office about her desperate plight.

It is a huge relief that both Aras and Nazanin are now free, and that Aras and her now husband have started a new life in Jersey and are expecting their first child.  But as Aras has set out so bravely in her recent testimony, there are many innocent activists still shamefully detained by the regime.

I remain deeply concerned about the human rights situation more generally in Iran and I support fresh, targeted sanctions.  As part of the shadow Foreign Office team, I will continue working with my colleagues in the team to urge the UK Government to do more, and I welcome David Lammy’s commitment as shadow Foreign Secretary to introduce a new legal right to Consular support, to help avoid situations like Aras and Nazanin in the future.

On Wednesday 7 June, I responded for Labour to a Westminster Hall debate on Government policy on Iran.  Watch my speech here: