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”.
This story is from the October 08, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber ? Sign In
This story is from the October 08, 2024 edition of The Independent.
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
Already a subscriber? Sign In
Why fans will shrug at loss of Man Utd's brightest star
A couple of years ago, if the news had broken that Marcus Rashford wished to leave Manchester United and seek his future elsewhere, the effect on the club's fans would have been dramatic.
Will Usyk or Fury 'get old overnight' in their rematch?
In boxing we have an expression we use during a fight, if one of the boxers looks bad: \"He got old overnight.\"
O'Shea is loving the battles at the Republic of Ipswich
As a player who was clocked as the fourth fastest in the Premier League last season, Dara O'Shea relishes it \"when I'm up against a striker and it's me and him\".
Sliding doors moment that saw Spurs embrace chaos
Tottenham fans will wonder what could have been tomorrow as Arne Slot brings league leaders Liverpool to north London
HS2 doesn't need a 'reset'...this line never made sense
Nobody knows how much it will cost or when it will be done. With our creaking transport system, the mounting billions would be better spent elsewhere, says Chris Blackhurst
Hope for economic growth dampened by uncertainty
Fun fact: the OECD still predicts that Britain's economy will be one of the stars of the G7 during 2025 with growth of 1.7 per cent, lagging only behind the US at 2.4 per cent.
Trump's war on the press is straight from Putin playbook
The pen may not be mightier than the sword, but it still has the power to wound. How else to explain the extraordinary remarks of the former Russian president, Dmitry Medvedev, this week in which he revealed how stung he'd been by an editorial in The Times?
Musk calls far-right AfD party saviours of Germany
Elon Musk has described the far-right Alternative for Germany (AfD) party as the country's saviour, sparking calls from Berlin for the US billionaire to \"stay out\" of their politics.
Macron swears in heated exchanges with crowds in cyclone-battered Mayotte
French president Emmanuel Macron swore during an exchange as he was heckled by angry residents of a Mayotte neighbourhood ravaged by cyclone Chido, telling them: “If it wasn’t for France, you’d be 10,000 times deeper in shit.”
Store guard helped uncover abuse of Pelicot by husband
When Gisèle Pelicot was called to talk to police in November 2020, she believed it was to discuss upskirting allegations made against her husband of 50 years.
