Calls for special envoy to help release Britons held for years without fair trial

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Louise Thomas

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Six Britons held for years without fair trial in countries with close trading links to the UK have fresh hopes of release as a cross-party group of MPs launches a pressure group to fight for their freedom, The Independent can reveal.

Family members and friends of four of the detainees have accused the Foreign Office – which handles their cases as well as trade deals – of caring more about protecting diplomatic relations than the freedom of their loved ones.

The new cross-party group – which includes Tory MP Alicia Kearns and Labour peer Baroness Helena Kennedy – will call for a special envoy for hostage affairs, a role which is independent to the Foreign Office.

Among the nearly two dozen politicians who have signed up in support are Lord Alf Dubs, Tory MP John Whittingdale and Baroness Margaret Hodge. As shadow foreign secretary, David Lammy promised to create the role should he be appointed into office.

Ms Kearns, chair and also the shadow minister for foreign affairs, says the special envoy role is more urgent than ever as there is “now an industrialisation of taking British citizens as hostages for leverage in state-to-state relations”.

All those Britons highlighted by the politicians have seen trials based on no evidence or no basis in law, according to the United Nations and human rights groups.

Among them is Ryan Cornelius, 70, who was arrested in 2008 in Dubai on charges of fraud. He remains in prison despite the UN calling for his release and describing his arrest as arbitrary.

Another is Jimmy Lai, a British businessman arrested in Hong Kong in August 2020 on false charges of sedition and breaching national security measures.

UN experts say his arrest appears “to be directly related to his criticism of the Chinese government and his support for democracy in Hong Kong”. The Independent has repeatedly called for the free speech champion to be released.

Mark Sabah, the director of the Committee for Freedom in Hong Kong Foundation (CFHK), a group leading the calls for Mr Lai’s release, has accused the Foreign Office of “giving cover to authoritarian states to do whatever they like”.

“These authoritarian states now know full well that in order to get the British government to drop the case, they only need to dangle some sort of trade investment,” he said.

Gurpreet Singh, the brother of Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been held in India since November 2017 on charges of terrorism and sectarian killings, said: “I think there’s a misunderstanding among the British public that if a British national goes missing, the government will do what they can to bring them back.”

The UK government, including Mr Lammy, has condemned Jagtar’s arrest as arbitrary. Since his detention, however, the government has engaged in £225.8bn worth of trade with India, and is negotiating a new deal estimated to be worth £40bn.

“Jagtar is a thorn in this trade deal that the UK wants with India. That’s the bottom line,” said Mr Singh. “Here, the deal with India is worth billions for years to come, and Jagtar is just one person in between that.”

Chris Pagett, brother-in-law of Mr Cornelius, said: “The Foreign Office seems to have adopted a policy that once you deem a country to be a strategic ally, essentially your job goes no further than not to upset it.

“That’s what happened to Ryan. That’s what’s happening to many Brits and is what will happen more and more. That’s why our business people everywhere are going to be at an increasing risk of being targeted by regimes.”

He added: “The Foreign Office has failed Ryan at every junction. I believe they are jointly responsible for the fact that Ryan is where he is.”

While the Foreign Office does not publicly admit how many cases are categorised as arbitrarily detained, Ms Kearns says the group will focus on at least six public cases.

As well as Jagtar Singh Johal, Jimmy Lai and Ryan Cornelius, the APPG will highlight pro-democracy activist Alaa Abdel-Fattah in Egypt, Mehran Raoof in Iran and, most recently, grandfather Sadik Duraku in Serbia, who was arrested in April on disputed charges of war crimes.

Mona Seif, brother of Mr Abdel-Fattah, has been optimistic that the new Labour government, particularly with Mr Lammy’s appointment, could address the issue.

Mr Abdel-Fattah was arrested in Egypt in September 2019 after being accused of joining and funding a terrorist group – a charge Amnesty International has described as arbitrary. He had already served five years in prison for “protesting without authorisation”, from which he was released in March 2019, before being arrested again.

On 2 October, Mr Lammy, previously an outspoken advocate for Mr Abdel-Fattah’s release, met the two sisters for the first time since assuming office to discuss the case. Mona says he told them he needed “more time” to build relations with the Egyptian administration.

A day later, the Egyptian foreign minister told his government that the UK had shown “great interest” during a meeting with Mr Lammy on 25 September in “developing good relations between the two countries to pump new investments into the Egyptian economy”. They also discussed plans to organise a “Egyptian-British investment conference”.

“I worry this is exactly replicating what the Tory government has done for three years,” said Mona, referring to the prioritisation of trade. Britain and Egypt’s trade is worth £4.8bn annually.

Ms Kearns said that despite complaints from affected families, there remains “enormous institutional reluctance” in the Foreign Office to change. Baroness Kennedy, meanwhile, accused the Foreign Office of being “too supine in the face of abuse against our people”.

The pair are calling on Mr Lammy to ultimately pressure the ministry to push reform through, saying that Foreign Office officials “are not the decision-makers”.

“This is a test for Lammy,” Ms Kearns said. “Can he overcome this institutional reluctance? Officials will say no to him. It’s for him to say, ‘Well, I’ve promised this. I want to bring it in. Go on and do it’.”

Tim Roca, the Labour MP for Macclesfield and vice-chair of the group, underlined Mr Lammy’s promises to create a special envoy. “Labour MPs want to see the government move the dial on this,” he said.

Matthew Hedges, a British academic arrested in the UAE in May 2018 on charges of espionage and held for nearly eight months in a Dubai prison, where he claims he was tortured, said he believes the MPs’ groups will be vital to ensuring that the Foreign Office’s continued refusal to change their approach will at least be “acknowledged”.

Asked if he had seen any substantial updates in the Foreign Office’s approach since a review into his case concluded in their apology and a promise to change, Mr Hedges was dismissive. “No”, he said. “Zilch.”

When approached for comment for this story, a Foreign Office spokesperson said: “The government is committed to strengthening support for British nationals, including through the appointment of a new envoy.”

They did not respond to further inquiry about whether that meant the Foreign Office was committed to creating a special envoy for hostage affairs. David Lammy was also approached for comment.