Special envoy promise set to help Britons held abroad

Six Britons held for years without a 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.

- TOM WATLING

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, who is 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”.