Rhys Davies features in The Guardian | From Egypt to India, five jailed men who feel abandoned by Britain

Rhys Davies features in The Guardian on 26 November 2024

The article was first published in The Guardian on 26 November 2024 and can be read in full, here.

Barrister Rhys Davies was featured in The Guardian’s explainer on British citizens arbitrarily detained abroad, specifically on the case of Ryan Cornelius who has been detained in the UAE since 2008.

Ryan Cornelius, the United Arab Emirates

More than 16 years have passed since Ryan Cornelius, a British property developer, was arrested at Dubai airport. He is now 70, and his family is furious about the UK government’s response to his case.

Cornelius was charged in 2010 with defrauding the Dubai Islamic Bank (DIB) and sentenced to 10 years in prison in the UAE.

Two months before his release date in 2018, he was served with another 20-year sentence – based on a UAE law brought in after his initial sentencing – until $430m in alleged debt was settled. Before his detention, Cornelius, who had business projects in Bahrain, Dubai and Pakistan, had been repaying instalments on a $500m DIB loan.

At the start of his imprisonment, he was held in solitary confinement for weeks, and he later contracted tuberculosis while in jail, which went untreated for 18 months, his family said.

A meeting this year with the Conservative foreign secretary David Cameron, who raised Cornelius’s case with UAE officials, made them hopeful for the first time of his release. But meetings with officials from the new Labour government have upset and disappointed them.

The businessman’s lawyer, Rhys Davies, said: “David Cameron’s intervention was an absolute game changer. Since the new government’s come in it’s gone in completely the opposite direction.”

“Their job is to stand up for the rights of British citizens, that should be their number one priority and I just don’t think they’re doing that. Ryan should have been released earlier this year, there’s no doubt about it.”

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Rhys Davies is a barrister at Temple Garden Chambers specializing in international criminal law and human rights law. He has represented clients in numerous high-profile cases, including those involving torture, extradition, and Interpol Red Notices.