PM urged to secure release of Scot in India
Campaigners fighting for the release of Jagtar Singh Johal, who has been detained in India for four years and now faces a possible death sentence, are demanding Boris Johnson use his meeting with the Indian Prime Minister to secure his return to Scotland.
The legal campaign organisation Reprieve, has written to the Prime Minister ahead of his virtual meeting with Nahrendra Modi tomorrow, after a planned visit to India was cancelled, asking him to ensure Mr Johal is released.
Maya Foa, joint executive director of the NGO, said Mr Johal, who was imprisoned on a murder charge, is a Sikh human rights advocate from Dumbarton, who has “sought to use his platform to raise awareness of historic abuses carried out against the Sikh population” and that he has been routinely tortured while in prison.
She said that the threat of a death sentence "is real” as the “death penalty landscape in India is increasingly concerning” with four men executed last year, and an execution warrant “reportedly issued for Shabnam Ali, who would be the first woman to be hanged by the Indian justice system since 1955”.
In her letter to Mr Johnson she writes: “Your upcoming meeting with Prime Minister Modi is the moment to help get Jagtar home to his family.
"Asyourgovernment’srecent Integrated Review makes clear, the foremost priority for ‘Global Britain’ is “to support open societies and defend human rights.”
"The UK’S deepening ties with India must be based on shared values.
“We urge you to make clear that the protection of UK citizens – particularly where they face arbitrary detention, torture, and the death penalty – will remain your government’s first concern in any future discussions.
“The UK government must act to bring this young British man home. In your upcoming meeting, you have a critical opportunity to secure the release of a young man who is unlawfully and arbitrarily detained and now facing a possible death sentence. We respectfully request that you ask Prime Minister Modi to release Jagtar immediately.”
Jagtar Singh Johal, was 31 when he travelled to India in October 2017 to marry his fiancée, but a fortnight later was “effectively abducted” in Punjab by plain clothes officers while he was out shopping.
His lawyers say he was placed under a hood, taken to an undisclosed location and tortured for several days, before being forced to sign blank sheets of paper.
According to the Reprieve letter India’s police “tortured Jagtar, placing crocodile clips on his ears, nipples, and genitalia and electrocuting him” and also “doused him in petrol and threatened to set him alight”.
Ms Foa’s letter adds: “Jagtar’s imprisonment clearly amounts to arbitrary detention under international law. He has now been detained for more than three years without trial. His initial arrest was unlawful, amounting to statesanctioned abduction.
"We further understand that he may have been targeted for his work highlighting human rights abuses against Sikh communities."