Tim Roca

Tim Roca

Labour — Macclesfield

Speaking in the House of Commons on 19 November 2024

Debate

Ryan Cornelius: Detention in UAE

Contribution

The hon. Member makes an important point. I will return to the FCDO in a moment and perhaps address some of what he mentioned. As I said, Ryan was issued with a 20-year extension to his sentence in 2018. The law sanctioning such extensions was not brought in until after Ryan’s arrest. In April 2022, the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention completed a detailed investigation that found that the UAE’s treatment of him contravened eight articles of the universal declaration of human rights, to which the UAE is a signatory. The group ruled that Ryan has been held in conditions amounting to “torture”, that he had not received a fair trial, and that his detention was “arbitrary”. It called for his immediate release. As things stand, he has not been released. He remains an arbitrarily detained British national in the United Arab Emirates—a country that is an ally.

More from Tim Roca

Other recent Hansard contributions by the same speaker.

About Hansard

Hansard is the official verbatim record of proceedings in the UK Parliament. Every word spoken in the Commons and Lords is recorded and published — this page is a single contribution from that record.

For Tim Roca's full parliamentary record including voting history, expenses and all other contributions, see the Tim Roca report card.