This article is more than 7 years old

This article is more than 7 years old

Bahrain's ambassador to London has been snubbed after sending a Christmas hamper to an MP who sits on a committee conducting an inquiry into human rights abuses in the country.

Ann Clwyd, who has criticised the regime for torturing and imprisoning pro-democracy campaigners, was surprised to find a festive Fortnum & Mason wicker basket in her office on Wednesday.

After inquiries with the royal grocers, she discovered the hamper was a gift from Alice Thomas Samaan, Bahrain's ambassador. Clwyd returned the hamper to the store and sent a letter to the embassy explaining that she could not accept it.

Clwyd sits on the foreign affairs select committee that is conducting an inquiry into the Foreign Office's response to Bahrain's human rights abuses and she chairs the all-party parliamentary human rights group. She was surprised to be confronted with such a large basket in her office – it was, her staff estimate, nearly a metre long, 60cm wide and 60cm high.

"I asked my researcher where it came from, but inside there was just a note saying that it was a Christmas hamper but no explanation of who had sent it," she said.

Inside, staff could see chocolates and champagne, but did not explore further because Clywd was already concerned about who had sent it.

A member of her staff called Fortnum & Mason, which confirmed it had come from Samaan.

Because they did not open it, staff are unsure whether it was a "jubilee" hamper, worth about £200, which contains champagne, truffles and a jubilee tea towel, or a "Christmas feast" hamper, worth £500, which includes smoked salmon, stilton, cranberry sauce, Christmas pudding, coffee, chocolate biscuits and gin.

"I just could not accept it given what has happened to the citizens of Bahrain. I said, 'Lets get it out of my office and send it back'," she said.

Further inquiries from the Guardian established that Samaan sent similar packages from the store in London's Piccadilly to about 10 other MPs.

Conor Burns, the Conservative MP for Bournemouth West, who is chairman of the all-party group on Bahrain, said he was one of the recipients.

Burns, a former public relations executive who went on a £3,279 trip funded by the Bahraini foriegn ministry in October 2010 to observe elections in the country, said he had not yet opened it.

"What I sometimes do is distribute foodstuffs to charities. But given that the hamper is in London and I am on my way to Bournemouth, it isn't a big deal," he said.

It is understood that five other members of the foreign affairs select committee were contacted on Thursday by parliamentary officials but none of them had received similar packages.

Samaan was appointed head of Bahrain's diplomatic mission to London last year. No one from the Bahraini embassy was available for comment.

Rallies and gatherings were temporarily banned in Bahrain, which hosts the US Navy's fifth fleet and has been in turmoil since pro-democracy protests led by its Shi'ite Muslim majority erupted last year.

Bahrain's ruling Al-Khalifa family, who are Sunni Muslims, used martial law and help from Gulf neighbours to put down last year's uprising, but unrest has resumed. The opposition says little progress has been made towards its demands for reforms including a parliament with full powers to legislate and form governments. Many Shi'ites complain of political and economic marginalisation, a charge that Bahrain denies.

• This article was amended 1 February 2013. The original stated that "rallies and gatherings are banned". This has been corrected.