Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many properties or other assets belonging to persons affiliated with ISIS have been seized or frozen under UK Government sanctions since March 2011.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury published in its 2024-2025 Annual Review that £19.3 million in assets across multiple sanctions regimes have been reported as frozen as of September 2024. This is an aggregated total of all entities and individuals listed on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets under non specified regimes including the ISIL (Da’esh) and Al-Qaida regime. OFSI does not hold a comparable figure for 2011.

Question to the HM Treasury:

To ask the Chancellor of the Exchequer, how many (a) properties and (b) other assets belonging to family members of Bashar al-Assad have been (i) seized and (ii) frozen under UK Government sanctions since March 2011.

Answered by Lucy Rigby - Economic Secretary (HM Treasury)

The Office of Financial Sanctions Implementation (OFSI), part of HM Treasury published in its 2024-2025 Annual Review that £383 million in assets relating to the Syrian sanctions regime have been reported as frozen as of September 2024. This is an aggregated total of all entities and individuals listed on the Consolidated List of Financial Sanctions Targets. OFSI does not hold a comparable figure for 2011.

Question to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs, what representations she has made to her Chinese counterpart on releasing Pastor Ezra Jin Mingri and other pastors and members of Zion Church arrested on 10 October 2025.

Answered by Seema Malhotra - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office)

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer given to question 75048 on 16 September.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, under what legal power the Government seized the property belonging to Rifaat al-Assad in Mayfair, London following his conviction for money laundering and embezzling public funds in France in 2020.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) provides law enforcement agencies with a wide range of powers to freeze, seize and recover criminal assets, such as property.

These include restraint orders, property freezing orders, recovery and confiscation orders. Over 250 agencies have had POCA powers extended to them, including the National Crime Agency, police forces, HMRC and the Serious Fraud Office.

Question to the Home Office:

To ask the Secretary of State for the Home Department, following the seizure of the property belonging to Rifaat al-Assad in Mayfair, London, in 2020 by UK authorities, who is currently the legal owner of that property and who is responsible for managing it.

Answered by Dan Jarvis - Minister of State (Cabinet Office)

The Proceeds of Crime Act (POCA) provides law enforcement agencies with a wide range of powers to restrain and recover criminal assets, such as property.

Restraint orders ensure that suspected criminal property cannot be sold or otherwise disposed of whilst investigations and other proceedings are ongoing. In some circumstances the Court can appoint a receiver to manage the property during proceedings, including potential sale if a confiscation order is subsequently made, the defendant may also need to sell property without the involvement of a receiver as a result of a confiscation order.

The Home Office cannot comment on individual cases and questions relating to them should be referred to the appropriate law enforcement agency or prosecutorial body.

Question to the Ministry of Defence:

To ask the Secretary of State for Defence, pursuant to the Answer of 2 April 2025 to Question UIN 43405, whether he or Ministers in his Department have visited the Old British Cemetery in Girne, Northern Cyprus; and whether he plans to do so.

Answered by Louise Sandher-Jones - Parliamentary Under-Secretary (Ministry of Defence)

Whilst the Ministry of Defence continues to recognise and value the sacrifice of the 371 UK Service personnel who gave their lives during the ‘Cyprus Emergency’, Parliamentary and Ministerial commitments mean there are no plans to visit the memorial at The Old British Cemetery at Girne (Kyrenia).

Whilst the cemetery is located in the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, which is not recognised by this Government, the British High Commission in Nicosia regularly honours those Service personnel who died, including through the annual laying of a wreath at the official Remembrance Day Service at the Nicosia War Cemetery where British soldiers are buried.