Anti-piracy crew jailed and left in ‘horrendous’ conditions

FORMER soldier Nick Dunn has been acquitted of weapons charges after spending four years “languishing” in an Indian prison.

Mr Dunn, of Ashington, Northumberland, is among the group of ex-serviceman, known as the Chennai Six, who were jailed for five years.

The six men were working on an anti-piracy ship in the Indian Ocean when they were arrested in 2013.

They have always protested their innocence and appealed against the charges, maintaining they held appropriate licences for the weapons.

After four years of campaigning by their families, an Indian court has now acquitted the men of the charges.

Here is how the events unfolded for the men and their families.

Six former servicemen were among 35 people taken into custody in India in October 2013 after their security vessel Seaman Guard Ohio was stopped by police.

It was reported that police seized 35 automatic weapons and nearly 5,700 rounds of ammunition from the security guards on the ship.

The company AdvanFort said the crew were providing protection from pirate attacks.

But the former soldiers were charged with possessing illegal weapons and ammunition and entering India’s territorial waters without permission. (Left to right) Brendan O’Hara MP, Joanne Thomlinson, Lisa Dunn, Ian Lavery MP, Yvonne MacHugh, The Revd Canon Ken Peters and Kirsten Oswald MP present a 350,000 signature petition to Downing Street for the release of several British men who have been Alongside Mr Dunn, the other ex-servicemen the men argued the weapons were lawfully are Billy Irving, from Argyll and held for anti-piracy purposes and their Bute, John Armstrong, of Wigton, Cumbria, paperwork, issued by the UK Government, Nicholas Simpson, of Catterick, North was in order. Yorkshire, Ray Tindall, of Chester, and Paul But a lower court reinstated the prosecution Towers, of Pocklington, East Yorkshire. and they were sentenced to five years in

jail in 2016.

The authorities initially accused men of “importing guns for jihadists”.

This was always denied by the former soldiers and their families, who said they were victims of a “miscarriage of justice”. the The charges were initially quashed when

The families of the so-called Chennai Six claim they were held in “horrendous” conditions at the Indian jail.

They say the men were forced to sleep on concrete floors, in sweltering heat with inadequate water and prison meals were “curried slop and rice”.

And none of the men were allowed to make telephone calls home.

A judge at an Indian court ruled that the six men were not guilty of the weapon charges, meaning they will be released from prison.

Ms Dunn said it could take up to two weeks for her brother to be released but she expects he will be back in the North East for Christmas.

A post on the Chennai Six Twitter account gave thanks to everyone who has supported their campaign.

It read: “Thank you to everyone who has helped support the #Chennai6 and never gave up on the fight for justice.

“Today is a very special day and is the result of a lot of peoples hard work and campaigning x.”