FOREIGN Office Minister Baroness Ramsey of Cartvale, responding to written questions submitted by Epping Forest MP Eleanor Laing, said in a letter: "Mr Bryant has been tried, convicted and sentenced in accordance with Moroccan law.

"We have to respect the laws and sentences of other sovereign states.

"We have no basis in international law to make representations on Mr Bryant's behalf because the sentence he received under Moroccan law exceeds the sentence he may have received if he had been tried under British Law."

Baroness Ramsey said Mr Bryant was due for release on March 3, 2003.

She added: "Before his release he must pay court fines of about £19,354. If he cannot pay the fines he will have to serve additional time in prison.

"The amount of extra time would be for the court to decide."

Campaigners hope a Prison Transfer Agreement can be signed, allowing Mr Bryant to serve the remainder of his sentence in the UK.

Mrs Laing described the news that he could be facing additional time behind bars as "rather disappointing" adding that she felt a prisoner transfer agreement was the only real hope of getting Mr Bryant out of Morocco soon.

She told the Guardian: "I've been pressing for years now for more help from the Foreign Office and it seems that one minister gives us hope and then Tony Blair changes his ministers and we get someone else and they seem less interested."

She is concerned about Mr Bryant's ability to pay the fines, saying: "It's a problem but I don't know what his ability is to pay the money and I'm sure there are plenty of people who would be willing to help him.

"I'm still hoping the Foreign Office will get on with its business of agreeing a Prisoner Transfer Agreement because as far as Steven's health and welfare is concerned he would be much safer in a British prison than in Morocco."

Mrs Laing has written to the Chief Justice in Morocco requesting that Mr Bryant, whose parents, Peter and Sheila, lived in Brooker Road, Waltham Abbey, should not have to serve the extra time.

She said: "He has served a very long sentence already. While he's been in prison he hasn't been able to earn money. Therefore it's unreasonable for him to pay a hefty fine.

"As he has served such a long sentence I have asked in the interest of clemency that the extra year is not enforced," she said.

November 22, 2001 8:50