A decade trapped in Mongolia: Aussie miner begs UN for help

Mo Munshi’s complaint to the UN spells out details of torture and cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment while in prison and the ongoing punishment of a travel ban.

Australian mining executive Mo Munshi spent seven years behind bars in Ulaanbaatar. Picture: Twitter

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An Australian businessman who has been trapped in Mongolia for more than a decade is taking his plea for help to the UN.

Mohammed “Mo” Munshi – who also holds British citizenship – spent almost seven years in Mongolian prisons over fraud convictions linked to a series of mining investments and remains stuck in the country because of a court-imposed travel ban.

He has previously expressed his frustration over the lack of effort from Australia and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade in helping both during his time in prison and in trying to lift the travel ban that has prevented him from reuniting with his family in Perth.

Mr Munshi has now filed complaints with the UN Human Rights Council and the UN Special Rapporteurs on Torture, Health and Older Persons, urging the international community to step in. Former British member of parliament and chair of the Mongolian-British Chamber of Commerce John Grogan is advocating on Mr Munshi’s behalf.

Mr Munshi’s complaint to the UN spells out the details of the torture and cruel, inhumane or degrading treatment he allegedly endured while in prison and the ongoing punishment of the travel ban.

Australian businessman Mo Munshi before (main picture) and after his incarceration in a Mongolian prison (insert). Pictures: supplied

“Mr Munshi’s treatment by the Mongolian judiciary and government should serve as a warning to foreign investors in Mongolia. As should the lack of support from the Australian and British governments during his trial, imprisonment and his current travel ban,” the complaint reads.

“If the travel ban is not lifted, he will die in Mongolia.”

Heretic Law partner Alison Battisson, who helped prepare the complaint, urged the Australian and British governments to act.

“Mr Munshi has spent the last decade being tortured, beaten, starved, religiously abused, living in disgusting conditions with open flowing toilets and at times completely cut off from the world,” Ms Battisson told The Australian.

“The governments of Australia and the UK must step up and work with the Mongolians to bring him home.”

Mr Munshi was detained by Mongolian police in 2015 after he arrived in the country for a meeting with Chuluunbaatar Baz, who was an investor in Mr Munshi’s Gobi Coal and Energy. GCE had raised more than $US170m but a planned public listing of the company was shelved in 2011-12 amid a decline in coal prices.

In 2017, following what his lawyers described as a “flawed” criminal trial, he was ultimately sentenced to seven years imprisonment. Mr Munshi has steadfastly maintained his innocence, and his lawyers note that the crime he was convicted of did not even exist under Mongolian law at the time of his alleged conduct and arrest.

The underlying accusation against Mr Munshi, the complaint says, was that he had made statements to Chuluunbaatar Baz about how well GCE would perform and that he had suffered $US25.5m in losses as a result.

The complaint details how, following his arrest, Mr Munshi’s partner and children in China were threatened with being kidnapped and taken to Mongolia to put pressure on Mr Munshi to pay his accusers.

It says he spent time in a ­maximum-security prison alongside murderers and rapists with no communication with the outside world. He was also denied appropriate medical treatment; endured physical and verbal abuse; was imprisoned in extremely overcrowded cells with inadequate heating, ventilation and sanitation; and was denied communications with his family.

He was also denied confidential communications with his legal representatives.

“Mr Munshi was told, multiple times throughout the course of his imprisonment, that he would be released and allowed to leave Mongolia if he paid off Chuluunbaatar Baz,” the complaint says.

It says he needs to return to Australia immediately for medical treatment to address a range of medical conditions, including urgent cardiac surgery.

The Australian has seen a translated copy of a letter sent to Mr Munshi’s Mongolian lawyer by Mongolia’s general executive agency for court decisions this month. The letter tells Mr Munshi and his lawyer that the travel ban would be lifted if he paid his Mongolian former business partner almost 32 billion Mongolian tughriks, or $US14.5m.

Mr Grogan, meanwhile, urged Mongolia to allow Mr Munshi to leave the country immediately.

“I am a big supporter of Mongolia and have visited the country 51 times but I have to tell my many friends there that the Mo Munshi case is having a chilling effect on investment and trade,” Mr Grogan told The Australian.

He said Mr Munshi’s case could be “extremely damaging” to perceptions about Mongolia and he had written to two successive Mongolian presidents about Mr Munshi’s situation.

“Mongolia is by far the most democratic country from Japan to the Baltic States but when it comes to resolving business disputes, countries like Kazakhstan have far more transparent procedures in place,” he said.

“It is in the interest of Mon­golian investors as well as international partners that this situation is put right.”