UK court hands jail term to Syrian shipowner

A UK court has issued an arrest warrant for a Syrian shipowner, handing down an 18-month sentence for lying to a court. 

Abdul Jalil Mallah is sanctioned for his ties to Iran and the Houthis in Yemen. 

Oaktree Capital Management took Mallah, 49, to court in London in a bid to recover two bulk carriers it had lent him money to buy, after it ended the deal in the wake of him being placed under sanctions.

Judge Sara Cockerill has now ruled Mallah “quite deliberately lied to the court” in the case and provided “multiple false statements”, which included forged documents.

The judge also ordered a confiscation of all Mallah’s assets in the UK.

One of the vessels in the dispute, the Amethyst, was repossessed in Sharjah but the other, the Courage, sailed on to Syrian waters where Mallah is now residing.