To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will carry out an urgent investigation into cases of torture in the Sudan. [105775]

We are concerned about torture in Sudan. We part-fund the work of the Sudanese Organisation Against Torture (SOAT) which monitors incidences. SOAT'S annual report states that incidences of torture have decreased across the population as a whole but that the practice continues to be used against the people of Darfur, and in particular students.The Sudanese government has signed the Convention Against Torture and other Cruel, Inhuman and Degrading Treatment or Punishment. Our Embassy in Khartoum regularly lobbies the Government of Sudan to ratify the Convention.