Ben Keith submits application to Foreign Secretary to impose Magnitsky sanctions on UAE official.
As reported by the Telegraph, Ben Keith and Rhys Davies of Temple Garden Chambers have filed submissions with the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office on behalf UK businessman Ryan Cornelius calling for the UK to impose sanctions on a senior UAE official. Ryan Cornelius has been held in a maximum-security prison in Dubai since 2008. Submissions sent on his behalf, set out how the 67-year-old British businessman has been the victim of state-sanctioned persecution of the most serious kind.
The petition sent to Foreign Secretary Liz Truss, presents evidence that Ryan Cornelius is the victim of a corporate raid in which assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars were seized. Ryan Cornelius was arrested in May 2008, detained and convicted on bogus charges following a fundamentally flawed trial process..
The application is supported by a cross-party group of Peers and MPs, and activist Bill Browder. A letter signed by Sir Iain Duncan Smith, Andrew Mitchell, Lord Hain of Neath, Sir Simon Hughes, Sir Peter Bottomley and Stephen Kinnock has been sent to Liz Truss calling for the UK to impose individual sanctions under the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 and the Global Anti-corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021 on a senior Dubai official for his role in human rights violations against Ryan Cornelius.
Bill Browder, campaigner for global Magnitsky sanctions legislation commented:
“The 30-year sentence in Dubai for Ryan Cornelius in order to seize his property, is a shocking miscarriage of justice that needs to be remedied. Since Dubai has kept this man hostage for 14 years already, Magnitsky sanctions are an appropriate tool to seek redress and punish their hostage takers”
The article, published in The Telegraph on 12 February 2022, can be read in full here.
Ben Keith acts on behalf of the family of Ryan Cornelius almond with Rhys Davies at Temple Garden Chambers
Ben Keith is a leading barrister specialising in Extradition and International Crime, as well as dealing with Immigration, Serious Fraud, and Public law. He has extensive experience of appellate proceedings before the Administrative and Divisional Courts, Criminal and Civil Court of Appeal as well as applications and appeals to the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) and United Nations. He is ranked in Chambers and Partners as a band 1 leader in the field of Extradition at the London Bar and in the Legal 500 as a Tier 1 leading individual in international crime and extradition. Ben recently won the International Pro Bono Barrister of the Year in November 2021.
