MPs have welcomed the new Parliamentary session with a number of Early Day Motions focusing on issues of Freedom of Religion or Belief. APPG vice chair Naomi Long has tabled two: one calls for the the preservation of the right to religious freedom or belief for Christians in the Arab world; the other focuses on the case of Meriam Ibrahim.

Jim Shannon has tabled two EDMs on the persecution of Christians in Africa, one referring to the detention of Christian convert Hassan Hussain Mohammed in Kenya; the second condemns the bomb attacks by Boko Haram against Christians in the Nigerian cities of Kanu and Jos.

Several written questions have also been put down: three from the Bishop of Coventry focus on the place of freedom of religion or belief in funds granted under the UK’s Human Rights and Democracy Programme.