7 Human Rights Abusers Who Made It Onto The UK's First Ever Independent Sanctions List
Forty-seven people and two organisations accused of the “most notorious human rights violations in recent years” were on Monday given the dubious honour of being hit by sanctions imposed independently by the UK for the first time.
In the past, the measures have been taken collectively as part of the United Nations or the European Union, but today’s announcement was one of the first major international moves by a post-Brexit Britain.
Sensing his moment, foreign secretary Dominic Raab stood in the Commons and, apparently taking a few cues from the world of Hollywood blockbusters, said “thugs of despots”, “henchmen of dictators” and “those with blood on their hands”, would not be welcome in the UK.
Of the the forty-nine individuals, 25 are Russian and 20 are from Saudi Arabia, with the vast majority implicated in one of two major international crimes – the murders of journalist Jamal Khashoggi and lawyer Sergei Magnitsky.
But there were notable omissions from the list – Tory Foreign Affairs Committee chairman Tom Tugendhat said there has been a “remarkable silence on human rights violations in China”.
The crimes
Jamal Khashoggi
In October 2017, a team of 15 Saudi agents was dispatched to Turkey to meet Jamal Khashoggi in the Saudi Consulate in Istanbul.
The journalist, who had been publicly critical of the Saudi regime, believed he was attending an appointment to pick up documents needed to marry his Turkish fiancee but he was never seen alive again.
Turkish officials who investigated the incident concluded Khashoggi was killed in the embassy and then dismembered with a bone saw. The CIA concluded the operation was conducted on the orders of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman.
His body has yet to be found.
Sergei Magnitsky
In 2009 Russian lawyer Sergei Magnitsky uncovered large-scale tax fraud in his home country and died in prison after giving evidence against corrupt officials.
He lends his name to the US Magnitsky Act which imposes sanctions on...
