Sappho Dias’ practice encompasses serious sexual cases, money laundering cases, fraud and family cases involving both financial claims, as well as children disputes.
In recent years, Sappho Dias’ practice has acquired an international dimension in that she has acted on behalf of people incarcerated within Burma against the Myanmar Government at the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention. She has written many articles on Burma and is the Chairman of the Burma Justice Committee, which comprises of many leading silks and juniors from the Bar of England and Wales as well academics from South Africa and advocates from Washington DC.
As to her criminal practice, Sappho Dias undertakes both Prosecution and Defence. Many of her cases are serious sex cases including rape, child sexual abuse and sexual assaults. Notable recent cases are R –v- Slodkiewicz (rape case at Kingston Crown Court; April 2007) R –v- Bicimli (rape case at Maidstone Crown Court; rape trial in February 2009, re-trial in March 2009 at Maidstone Crown Court), R-v- Ahmad (rape trial in Snaresbrook Crown Court, September 2007) R-v- Rafe (rape case, April 2007) and R –v- Chew (sexual assault trial at Harrow Crown Court, January 2009).
In fraud and money laundering cases, Sappho Dias was involved in defending one of the co-conspirators (who was eventually acquitted) in the trial of R –v- El Kurd and others at Blackfriars Crown Court, which was described in opening as the biggest money laundering operation that had been carried out in Europe. In recent times, she has prosecuted for the Serious Organised Crime Agency in R –v- Doolan and others, (Snaresbrook Crown Court, Febuary 2007) a case in which five co-conspirators were indicted for a conspiracy to import class “A” drugs (all five of the defendants were found guilty). In April 2008, at Croydon Crown Court, Sappho Dias defended a co-conspirator in a large scale fraud perpetrated on an insurance company in the case of R-v- Ferdhaus and others.
Sappho Dias has also defended in corruption cases and in January 2008, at Birmingham Crown Court, she defended a co-conspirator in a case involving large scale production of counterfeit money.
In Family Law, Sappho Dias has been involved in Hague Convention cases, where the child has been abducted to other jurisdictions. In recent years she has been involved in care proceedings cases where serious misconduct has been alleged against the parent of a child. She was involved in the case of London Borough of Hillingdon –v- Rashid, (over the length of 2007 at the Principal Registry, London) which alleged serious burning of a seven week old child and which concerned not just experts in burn marks but also psychiatrists (on the issue of personality and psychotic disorders).
Sappho Dias is of Burmese origin and in recent years as Chairman of the Burma Justice Committee has taken up cases involving pro-democracy activists in Burma. She has acted for notable leaders of the movement known famously as “The 88 Generation”. Four leaders of this group were incarcerated following the brutal suppression of the Buddhist monks’ peaceful protests in September 2007. Sappho Dias (leading Adam Zellick) took the four cases, namely, Min Ko Naing, Pyone Cho, Ko Jimmy and Min Zayar to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention (November 2007) and was successful in obtaining in declaratory orders in respect of all these detainees.
Being of Burmese origin, Sappho Dias grew up on Burma (the first eleven years) and then Pakistan (the next 7 years) before coming to the UK to read law at New Hall, University of Cambridge. She speaks Burmese and Urdu.
For many years Sappho Dias has been involved in Advocacy Training and is the author of the criminal problems used at The Advanced Oxford Advocacy Course at Keble College, Oxford. She has also been a trainer on that course for a period of 14 years. In addition, she has taught abroad in jurisdictions such as Botswana, USA and Pakistan. She retains an academic interest in Law and as a consequence of an invitation from Mr Justice Louis Harms, Deputy President of the South African Supreme Court of Appeal delivered a paper to the South African magistrates and judges in Pretoria (2003) on the Right to Silence. In July 2009, Sappho Dias delivered a paper to the Canadian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies entitled “Burma, Tragedy, Law and Hope”