Tag: Jagtar Singh Johal

Jagtar Singh Johal


Jagtar Singh Johal remains in custody in India on trumped up charges

November 2023

Jagtar was abducted off the street in 2017 and held incommunicado for a number of days during which time he was subjected to brutal treatment and was almost certainly tortured into signing a confession. His ‘crime’ as far as the India government was concerned was to represent the Sikh community and because of his human rights activity and his faith according to the UN.

He has now been in custody for 6 years and concerned lawyers have written to the UK Foreign Office minister Lord Ahmad, asking him to retract his comments saying that Jagtar will receive ‘due process’ in India. Manifestly he has not.

Many MPs were disappointed that the prime minister Rishi Sunak did not do more at the recent G20 summit when he met the India prime minister on the fringes of the meeting. Shockingly, it was revealed that the British security services MI5 and MI6 gave their Indian counterparts a tip-off which led to his arrest and torture. MPs and human rights organisations have criticised the UK government repeatedly over this affair and arrest of a British citizen. They have said the the government has been reluctant to press the Indian government over his arrest and mistreatment and have repeatedly failed to call for his release. The latest claim that he will be subject to due process flies in the face of all the evidence.

There is the suggestion that the ‘government’s timidity and reluctance to press his case too strongly relates to the desire to secure various arms deals with India. A Foreign Office spokesman is quoted as saying that it was committed to resolving his case ‘as soon as possible’.

Sources: Reprieve; Guardian; Independent; Amnesty International

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Death penalty report Nov/Dec


December 2022

The latest death penalty report for November/December is now available thanks to group member Lesley for the work in compiling it. At 8pp it shows there is a lot going on in the world and actions by Saudi authorities with their barbaric executions are particularly noteworthy. The distraction of the World Cup next door in Qatar no doubt helped to act as a shield. Note as ever that China remains the world’s worst executioner with numbers in the thousands but details are a state secret.

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Death penalty report


We are pleased to attach the death penalty report for the period September – October 2022 thanks to group member Lesley who has prepared it. Of note is a handwritten letter from Jagtar Singh Johal who still languishes in prison. Note, as ever, that China does not feature in the report despite being the world’s largest executioner, but details are a state secret. We are pleased to report that Equatorial Guinea is the latest country to abolish the penalty.

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Jagtar Singh Johal


Jagtar still at risk in India. Shameful involvement of UK security services

August 2022

We have reported on the plight of Jagtar in previous posts. He was snatched off the streets in India in 2017 by plain clothes police and has spent 5 years in gaol. There is evidence that he has been tortured using electric shocks, sleep deprivation and long hours of interrogation.

The latest development is an action by lawyers Leigh Day against the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the Attorney General alleging the involvement of UK security services in his arrest. The security services allegedly, according to Reprieve, tipped off the Indian authorities and the complaint is that they should not do this where there is a real risk of torture being used. The family has campaigned to the Foreign Office but have doubts about how effective or assertive they have been. Liz Truss – currently campaigning to be the next prime minister – has been the Foreign Secretary for much of the time of Jagtar’s imprisonment.

His treatment raises important questions about the involvement of UK’s security services in their dealings with foreign police and security services who are known to use torture.

See also supporters@reprieve.org.uk

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Free Jagtar Singh Johal


Send a birthday message to Jagtar Singh Johal

Jagtar Singh Johal is a British national who was abducted by Indian authorities just three weeks after his wedding. He’d gone to India to visit family, but Indian authorities tortured him into signing a blank confession. We described his case in a previous post.

That was in 2017. Now, he could be sentenced to death. 

It’s up to us to make sure Jagtar knows he’s not alone while Reprieve investigators, lawyers and campaigners fight to get him home.

You can send a message and birthday greetings by going to the Reprieve site via this link.

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Abduction in India


Anniversary of Jagtar Singh Johal’s abduction

Jagtar Singh Johal was abducted in plain sight by Indian police officers on November 4, 2017 – four years ago, today. It was the middle of the day and he was walking with his new wife. He travelled to India from his family home in Scotland to marry her. But three weeks into their marriage, they were pulled apart.  Together, Reprieve are exposing Jagtar’s story to the world and calling on the UK Government to get Jagtar back home before it’s too late.

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Today marks the four-year anniversary of Jagtar’s abduction and arbitrary detention in India – and exposes another year of delays by the UK Government. They should be doing everything they can to get him – a citizen – back home to Scotland.

Jagtar is now 34 years old.  Up until four years ago, he worked in his father’s restaurant in Dumbarton and cheered on Arsenal FC. But his life changed the day he was abducted. His government should have intervened and brought him home to safety a long time ago. But instead, he has spent his 30s in an overcrowded Indian prison, far from his family in Scotland.

This post is courtesy of Reprieve and if you have time to share the links above – which only take a moment – we would be grateful.

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World Day Against the Death Penalty


Action to take on 10 October

While in India for his wedding in November 2017, Jagtar Singh Johal, a British Sikh (pictured), was arrested and accused of involvement in terrorism and in the assassination of a number of Hindu leaders in the Punjab.  He is alleged to have faced torture and been forced to sign blank statements and record a video.  This ‘confession’ was broadcast on national television, where the political nature of his ‘crimes’ was stressed.  He has had no actual trial but faces the death penalty. 

Mr Johal’s brother, Gurpreet, who lives in Scotland, says his brother was a peaceful activist and believes he was arrested because he had written about historical human rights violations against Sikhs in India.  He has appealed to the British Government to seek his brother’s release and to bring him home.

Picture: BBC

In February of this year, almost 140 MPs wrote to the then Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, asking him to

seek Mr Johal’s release, and a debate was held in Parliament with calls for him to be declared a ‘victim of arbitrary detention.  In June, Nicola Sturgeon, First Minister of Scotland, wrote to Mr Raab, urging him to seek Mr Johal’s release.  Gurpreet Singh Johal is grateful for her support, but believes direct intervention from the British Government is essential.

Mr Johal is supported by the organisations Reprieve and Redress.  He has made numerous court appearances, but his trial has been repeatedly delayed at the request of the prosecution and basic information denied to his defence counsel.

Mr Raab said he was  doing all he could and had been in touch with the Indian authorities, but his response was criticised as ‘weak’.  With the appointment of the new Foreign Secretary – Liz Truss – there is an opportunity to bring Mr Johal’s situation to her attention, and to call for a more positive and pro-active response.

Action

Please write to:

Ms Elizabeth Truss

Secretary of State for Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Affairs of the

                                                                                                                        United Kingdom

Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office

King Charles Street

London SW1A 0AA                           Email: fcdo.correspondence@fcdo.gov.uk

and ask her to intervene in Mr Johal’s case, and to secure his release and return home.

Please date your letter 10th October 2021, calling attention to the fact that it is the 19th World Day against the Death Penalty.

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