LONDON (Reuters) – Britain, seeking to forge a post-Brexit role as a human rights defender, said on Monday it had blacklisted dozens of people from Russia, Saudi Arabia and Myanmar for abuses ranging from a carefully planned execution to beatings in prison and the persecution of Rohingya refugees.
It was the first time since leaving the European Union in January that Britain imposed its own sanctions for human rights violations. British officials show the move as proof that the country can play an influential global role on its own, with some pointing out that the European Union has yet to adopt similar sanctions.
Among the 47 people facing travel bans and frozen assets in Britain are 25 Russians accused of aiding and abetting the death of Sergei L. Magnitsky and 20 Saudis accused in the murder of dissident Saudi columnist Jamal Khashoggi. It also sanctioned two high-ranking Myanmar generals and two North Korean organizations responsible for the country’s isolated prison system.
Magnitsky, a Russian lawyer, died after brutal treatment while in custody on false charges in 2009, and is the namesake of the Magnitsky Act, under which the United States blacklists human rights abusers. Khashoggi was killed at the Saudi consulate in Istanbul in 2018, at the hands of Saudi agents.
“As we forge a dynamic new vision for a truly global Britain, this government is absolutely committed to making the UK an even stronger force for good in the world,” British Foreign Secretary said in Parliament. Dominic Raab, using a phrase he and other Brexiteers coined to describe the international role they expected a newly independent Britain to play.
“If you are a kleptocrat or an organized criminal,” added Raab, “you will not be able to launder your blood money in this country.”
As a practical matter, being blacklisted in Britain will likely do little to change the lives of people whose names were included in the ad. The British government obtained its first batch of names from people who are already blacklisted in the United States. That means they are already effectively banned from dealing with British banks, as the Treasury Department applies its measures globally through the threat of secondary sanctions.
Still, Britain’s use of human rights sanctions gives it a weapon that it could apply more widely in the future, including against Chinese officials involved in the mass internment of Uighurs in the country or the recent crackdown on pro-democracy protesters. in Hong Kong.
Conservative lawmakers pressured Mr. Raab on why the list did not include any Chinese officials, and replied that the government would continue to add names. But analysts said they did not expect Britain to appoint Chinese officials, given the complex trade ties between the two countries.
Britain has been involved in a clash with China since the Chinese government imposed a new national security law on Hong Kong in June. Prime Minister Boris Johnson criticized the measure and invited nearly three million people in the former British colony, those with British overseas passports, to live and work in Britain.
A human rights lawyer, Raab has lobbied for Britain to adopt Magnitsky-style sanctions since he was on the conservative bench in Parliament. Britain passed the necessary legislation two years ago, but did not designate anyone on the list until it formally left the European Union.
Mr. Raab paid tribute to the memory of Mr. Magnitsky and then met at the Foreign Office with the lawyer’s widow, Natalia, and her son, Nikita, as well as with William F. Browder, a British financier born in United States who employed Mr. Magnitsky and has campaigned for British sanctions on his behalf.
“Britain has a huge role in this area because most can dictators have bought mansions here, send their children to boarding school here, and keep their money here,” said Browder. “Any sanction on those things has a very chilling effect on all these bad guys around the world.”
London has long been a preferred sanctuary for nasty people with unlimited means. Many own apartments or houses in Chelsea or Belgravia, prosperous neighborhoods in west London, and send their children to exclusive British schools and, as Mr Raab said, “do their Christmas shopping in Knightsbridge.”
Among those blacklisted are Aleksey Vasilyevich Anichin and Oleg Silchenko, who were part of a committee of the Interior Ministry that investigated Mr. Magnitsky on false charges. Both are accused of participating in his mistreatment and ignoring signs of his deterioration while in a Moscow prison.
Among the Saudis named are Ahmed al-Asiri, a former deputy head of the Saudi intelligence service, and Saud al-Qahtani, a former aide to Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman, who has been accused by some of ordering the murder of Mr. Khashoggi. . Both men have been charged in Istanbul and will be tried in absentia for leading the 15-man squad that flew to Turkey from Saudi Arabia to carry out the murder.
Raab said he hoped the European Union would follow Britain’s example. But there was more than a hint of satisfaction in his tone. Britain had broken free from the need for consensus, which has so far prevented the 27-member bloc from accepting such sanctions. Hungary has been among those who have rejected them.
“Even if they have a human rights sanctions regime, would they use it like the United States or the United Kingdom?” said Emil Dall, sanctions expert at the Royal United Services Institute, a group of experts in London. “What we often see in the EU is a lowest common denominator when it comes to sanctions.”
