(Strangford) (DUP):...Thousands
of miles away in Westminster, it is sometimes hard to appreciate
the horror of that statement—forced organ harvesting on a
commercial scale. It is hard not to wonder how anyone could treat
their fellow humans so cruelly. I also wonder how many more will
suffer that fate before the UK Government—my Government—take
action. I wonder how long the Government will refuse to acknowledge
the evidence, which includes admissions from doctors in leading
Chinese transplant hospitals. I wonder how history will remember
those who ignored what described as a
practice comparable with,
“‘the worst atrocities committed in conflicts of the 20th
century’, including the gassing of Jews by the
Nazis and the Khmer Rouge massacres in Cambodia”.—[Official
Report, House of Lords, 2 March 2020; Vol. 802, c. 390.]
(Leeds North East)
(Lab):...Let me move to Iran. The Iranian authorities continue to
persecute the Baha’i minority, who number about 300,000. Iran’s
supreme leader issued a fatwa in 2013, calling on all Iranians to
avoid dealings with the Baha’i, and labelled the group “deviant and
misleading”. In March 2014 a United Nations report said:
“Under the law, religious minorities, including recognised
Jews, Christians, and Zoroastrians also face
discrimination in the judicial system, such as harsher
punishments”.
We know about Saudi Arabia’s persecution of Shi’a Muslims. Shi’a
often have little access to Government services, and state
employment continues to be limited for them.
Let me deal finally with Pakistan. As has been mentioned,
Pakistan is affected by the experience of chronic sectarian
violence targeting Shi’a Muslims, Christians, Ahmadi Muslims and
Hindus...
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