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11 February 2022

Rhys Davies and Ben Keith 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 Cornelius is the victim of a corporate raid in which assets worth hundreds of millions of dollars were seized. Mr Cornelius was arrested in May 2008, detained and convicted on bogus charges following a fundamentally flawed trial process. It is requested that Mohammed Al Shaibani, Director the ruler’s Court in Dubai, and one of the most powerful figures in Dubai, be designated for sanctions within the Global Human Rights Sanctions Regulations 2020 and the Global Anti-corruption Sanctions Regulations 2021.

The petition has been lodged at a time when Cornelius is profoundly unwell, having contracted tuberculosis whilst in prison in Dubai. Activist Bill Browder – who successfully lobbied US congress to pass the Magnitsky Sanctions Act – has provided support to Cornelius’ family and friends who instructed barristers Rhys Davies and Ben Keith to make urgent submissions to the FCDO. In light of his illness, his family and friends are certain that should UAE authorities continue to hold him in custody, Cornelius will die in prison, away from his homeland and away from his family.

The 35-page document is a plea for the UK government to hold those responsible for human rights violations against Cornelius to account. It stresses that imposing an individual sanction will send a powerful message that the UK both upholds human rights generally but is also prepared to act decisively to uphold the human rights of UK citizens who are abused in foreign jurisdictions. 

Bill Browder, campaigner for global Magnitsky sanctions legislation says:

“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.”

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About the Authors

Ben Keith Barrister

Ben Keith is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, extradition, international human rights law and asylum. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Ben represents clients across every region in INTERPOL Red Notice and Diffusion challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files. He has secured the deletion of Notices issued by states including Russia, China, the United Arab Emirates, Turkey, Belarus, Iran and Venezuela, in cases involving journalists, opposition political figures, refugees, human rights defenders and business figures targeted in commercial and political disputes. He is the author of the INTERPOL chapter in The Practitioner’s Guide to Global Investigations (Global Investigations Review, 2026).

Ben has appeared as counsel before the European Court of Human Rights Grand Chamber, the UK Supreme Court, the African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights, the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention, and the UN Committee Against Torture. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers in The Hague.

He regularly acts for politically exposed persons, journalists, human rights defenders and high net worth individuals facing extradition, INTERPOL Notices and other instruments of transnational repression. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including the Guardian, The Times, the Financial Times, The Telegraph, the BBC, Sky News, CNN, CBS 60 Minutes, The Economist, Politico and Al Jazeera.

Ben is ranked Star Individual in Chambers and Partners and a leading individual in The Legal 500 for extradition. He practises from 5 St Andrew’s Hill in London.

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Rhys Davies Barrister

Rhys Davies is a co-founder of IHR Advisors and an internationally recognised lawyer specialising in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges, international criminal law and international human rights law. He is the co-author of Interpol, Law and Practice (Sweet & Maxwell, 2026). He is co-editor of Red Notice Monitor, the leading public resource on INTERPOL Red Notice abuse and the practice of INTERPOL’s Commission for the Control of Files.

Rhys co-authored the report Undue Influence: the UAE and INTERPOL with Sir David Calvert-Smith, examining the systemic misuse of INTERPOL’s Notice and Diffusion systems by the United Arab Emirates and the implications for INTERPOL’s governance. He represents clients in INTERPOL Red Notice challenges before the Commission for the Control of Files, with particular focus on cases involving Middle Eastern and Central Asian states, and on the position of refugees, journalists and political dissidents targeted through INTERPOL by their states of origin.

Rhys has significant experience of in-country legal advice and assistance, most recently in the West Bank, and a specific interest in the Middle East. He is a member of the List of Counsel for the International Criminal Court, the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. He regularly speaks at, and chairs, events at the United Nations Human Rights Council in Geneva and at the House of Commons on matters of international law.

Rhys is the author of numerous articles on INTERPOL Red Notice practice and on justice in the Middle East, and is in demand as a commentator on international human rights. He provides legal commentary to national and international media including The Times, the Guardian, the Independent, the Financial Times, CBS 60 Minutes, Sky News, City AM and Al Jazeera.

Rhys is recommended as a leading individual in The Legal 500. He practises from Temple Garden Chambers in London and The Hague.

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