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UK to impose sanctions on individuals for alleged human rights abuses

Britain is to bring in new sanctions against foreign nationals accused of human rights abuses, preventing them from entering the UK and moving money though institutions in the country.

The UK’s new Magnitsky Act-style framework will target “the world’s worst human rights violators and abusers, and those complicit in their crimes”, according to the Foreign Office.

Although the individuals affected by the new policy have yet to be named, the list is expected to include people from North Korea, Russia and Saudi Arabia.


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Dominic Raab, the foreign secretary, will lay out the blacklist in parliament on Monday. He said: ”From today, the UK will have new powers to stop those involved in serious human rights abuses and violations from entering the UK, channelling money through our banks and profiting from our economy.

“This is a clear example of how the UK will help to lead the world in standing up for human rights. We will not let those who seek to inflict pain and destroy the lives of innocent victims benefit from what the UK has to offer,” the minister added.

In a statement released ahead of the announcement, the Foreign Office said the measures would also allow the UK to target organisations around the world.

The department added that those who have killed journalists and media workers may be the future targets of the post-Brexit sanctions.

“Future targets of the regime may include those who commit unlawful killings perpetrated against journalists and media workers, or activity motivated on the grounds of religion or belief,” the Foreign Office said.

In response to the sanctions, Rebecca Vincent, the director of International Campaigns at Reporters Without Borders, said on Twitter that it was “excellent news”, adding that her organisation would closely monitor the amendment’s application.

The new sanctions framework has been described as the Magnitsky amendment in reference to a US law of the same name, which was introduced in 2012.

The US act imposed asset freezes and visa bans on Russian officials who were thought to have played a role in the death of Sergei Magnitsky, a lawyer who died in a Moscow prison in 2009 after he alleged that some officials were complicit in large-scale fraud.

Additional reporting by Press Association


Source: UK Politics - www.independent.co.uk

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