MPs urge David Lammy to intervene as British man remains in jail in India | Foreign policy

Hopes that Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh man held in an Indian jail for seven years, could be launched on bail have been dashed on Thursday when his case was deferred by the Indian supreme courtroom probably till after the summer time, prompting calls from MPs for the UK to intervene.

The overseas secretary, David Lammy, is because of meet Johal’s brother once more subsequent week.

There had been hopes Johal would lastly be launched, a minimum of on bail, after in March he was cleared of all charges in a case in Punjab that precisely parallels the costs laid in opposition to him within the federal courts.

He has not been convicted of any crime since his arrest in November 2017.

Johal, from Dumbarton in Scotland, is accused of being a member of a terror group, the Khalistan Liberation Pressure (KLF), which has carried out assaults in Indian Punjab.

The costs in opposition to him embrace that he travelled to Paris in 2013 to provide £3,000 to different KLF figures, with the cash shopping for weapons that have been utilized in a collection of murders and assaults in opposition to Hindu nationalist and different spiritual leaders in 2016 and 2017. He has denied the costs.

Johal claims he was pressured to make a confession on the outset of his detention by signing a clean sheet of paper after police tortured him with electrical energy and introduced petrol into his cell and threatened to burn him alive.

A UN working occasion has claimed he’s being held underneath arbitrary detention.

A brand new letter to Lammy, signed by 117 cross-party MPs and friends, requires pressing British diplomatic strain.

It says there’s a “window of alternative” to safe Johal’s launch following his acquittal within the March case. The letter says: “The judgment on the proof led is essential and related to securing his launch, as a result of it’s the similar proof that exists within the different excellent federal courtroom instances.”

The marketing campaign group Reprieve, which has been backing requires his launch, mentioned it understood bail had been deferred as a result of his case had grow to be enmeshed in a broader consideration of the size of pre-trial detention in instances introduced underneath the Illegal Actions Prevention Act, a regulation human rights defenders declare has been abused to close down civic freedoms in India.

Reprieve mentioned Johal’s continued detention on the identical costs in a special courtroom after his acquittal challenged the precept of double jeopardy, a threat recognised in Indian and worldwide regulation.

The Indian authorities don’t declare Johal was immediately concerned in any of the assaults. All of the instances are primarily based on the identical alleged confession.

Johal’s brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, a Labour councillor in West Dunbartonshire, mentioned: “I’m glad the overseas secretary is assembly me once more, because it reveals he recognises that it is a make-or-break second for Jagtar.

“The case in opposition to my brother has been examined in courtroom and rejected, however the Indian authorities will maintain him in jail for many years if the UK authorities doesn’t act to safe his launch.

“We’ve seen that right now on the supreme courtroom – simply the newest in an infinite collection of delays. That is the second of fact for David Lammy: will he dwell as much as his guarantees, or will he fail Jagtar just like the final six overseas secretaries did?”

Dan Dolan, the deputy government director of Reprieve, mentioned: “This can be a politically motivated prosecution of a younger British human rights defender, and the method is the punishment. Jagtar has been discovered not responsible as soon as, after prosecutors did not current any credible proof in opposition to him in seven years. For him to stay imprisoned for many years, as duplicate trials drag on in defiance of the precept of double jeopardy, could be an obscene injustice. It’s time for the federal government to behave on its sturdy statements in opposition and do what it takes to carry Jagtar residence.”