A UN working group ruled that British businessman Ryan Cornelius has been subjected to human rights violations in the UAE jails and must be freed ASAP.
The United Nations working group on arbitrary detention said in a statement this Saturday that the United Arab Emirates (UAE) has been arbitrarily detaining a businessman from UK for years and that he must be released immediately. The UN officials noted that British businessman Ryan Cornelius, arrested at Dubai airport, has been held captive in the Gulf country since 2008.
According to the words of his lawyers, Cornelius has so far been severely subjected to several cases of gross human rights violations while in the UAE’s prisons. They referred to prolonged periods of solitary confinement and aggressive interrogations by the UAE police and security agents without any chance for Cornelius to have legal representation.
Before being charged with fraud in 2010 and sentenced to 10 years in prison, the 68-year-old Cornelius was a businessperson trading with individuals in the UAE and a number of other countries in the region. Cornelius was first released in March 2018, but he was again sent back to prison less than two month later on new charges.
A UAE court sentenced the British businessman for another 20 years based on the country’s legislation that was brought in after his initial sentencing. Condemning the illegal detonation of Cornelius for so many years, the UN working group has also demanded that the UAE opens an investigation into Cornelius’s case.
The group has also expressed grave concerns that Cornelius’s health is in critical conditions, demanding his immediate release so that he can get medical treatment for his tuberculosis. According to the UAE court responsible for the case, Cornelius is charged with conducting complicated and illegal business dealings involving powerful Emirati individuals.
Confirming the results of the UN findings, Ryan’s wife, Heather Cornelius, says that what the UN report reveals is all true and undeniable, adding also that “My husband’s basic rights have been violated for so many years and it is right that he is released urgently. I am now imploring them to act on this official ruling from the UN and bring my husband home.”
Human rights violations in the UAE over the past years
The UAE has, for long, been under harsh criticism by several international bodies for gross and persistent violations of human rights.
According to a 2021 report by the Amnesty International, for example, the country has continued to commit serious human rights violations, including “arbitrary detention, cruel and inhuman treatment of detainees, suppression of freedom of expression, and violation of the right to privacy.” The report also refers to the right to health in the UAE that has been only partially fulfilled during 2021. In addition, the report also notes that the Gulf state has deprived stateless individuals of the right to nationality. This has affected their access to a range of services while staying in the country.
Specifically referring to the case of Ryan Cornelius, the Amnesty International asserted in its report that the UAE has continued during 2021 to hold detainees past completion of their prison terms based on court orders under its “counter-extremism counselling” law, which cannot even be appealed.
The story has been quite the same in the previous years, and the UN has expressed concerns many times about the human rights violations in the oil-rich country. In 2018, for instance, a report by the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) strongly rebuked the UAE for torture of prisoners, injustice against foreign workers and discrimination of women.
