To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what representations he has made to the Sudanese Government on the imprisonment of Lubana al-Hussein and the punishment of women arrested with her for wearing trousers. (291657)

We raise human rights issues in Sudan through the EU and we have been in regular discussion with EU representatives in Khartoum and Stockholm regarding the arrests and trial. We have also made representations to the Government of Sudan (GoS) during the current session of the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva and highlighted the case in a statement to the Council on 15 September 2009.

Whilst we welcome the release of Ms Hussein on 8 September 2009, we continue to call upon the Government of Sudan to act in the spirit of the rights set out in the Interim National Constitution and in particular the Bill of Rights provision that no person should be subject to torture or to cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment.