Outcry after UK lifts sanctions against prominent Syrian businessman close to Assad regime

The UK has lifted sanctions imposed on a powerful Syrian businessman with close ties President Bashar al-Assad, The Telegraph has reported.

Last week, the British treasury removed Tarif al-Akhras from its sanction list without specifying a reason. The move to delist Akhras is the first of its kind since post-Brexit legislation passed in the UK provided for continued sanctions against figures close to the Syrian regime, including businessmen.

The founder of an eponymous commodities and trading company, Akhras is the cousin of the father of Syrian first lady Asma al-Assad. 

Th EU first sanctioned him in September 2011, as a "prominent businessman benefiting and supporting" the regime, which has killed hundreds of thousands of civilians and left millions displaced during a brutal 10-year war. The EU quashed a 2016 appeal by Akhras to have the sanctions lifted.

In 2014, the British High Court handed him a one-year jail sentence for contempt of court for failing to pay $26 million to a US firm in a food import deal in Syria.

The latest decision by the British treasury has been slammed by Guernica 37, a top human rights law firm, and the Syrian British Council (SBC).

Ibrahim Olabi, a barrister at Guernica 37, said that Syrian businessmen less prominent than Tarif "have been listed under a very similar criterion when the UK was part of the EU and were subsequently transferred into UK sanctions post-Brexit"

Mazen Ghariban, SBC's executive manager, said the move was incompatible with the “UK's current policy to hold all those involved in criminal activities in support of the Syrian regime accountable".

An independent research institution has claimed that Akhras donated funds to the Syrian regime's military security branch in the city of Homs.

Though he was targeted in a crackdown aimed at replenishing drained state coffers, the businessman is believed to have reconciled with the government. 

The FCDO has not commented in detail on the matter, saying the decision came "following a routine review of the UK's autonomous sanctions."