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Jagtar Singh Johal: Sunak raises the detention of Scot with Indian PM

2023-09-10 00:00:00.0 英国广播公司-亚洲新闻原网页

Image caption, Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, faces eight charges of conspiracy to murder and could receive the death penalty

The prime minister has confirmed that he raised the case of a Scottish Sikh who has been held by Indian authorities since 2017, in talks with the country's prime minister.

Rishi Sunak had faced pressure to highlight the case of Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, whose family claim has been the victim of torture.

More than 70 MPs demanded that Mr Sunak lobby for his release.

Earlier this week, the Foreign Office ruled out intervening in the case.

However, after speaking to his Indian counterpart Narendra Modi, Mr Sunak confirmed he raised the case along with other consular issues.

He did not provide details, but said: "The foreign office are continuing to provide support to Mr Johal's family and will continue to do so".

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Mr Johal, a 36 year-old campaigner for Sikh human rights, travelled to India in October 2017 to get married.

He was shopping with his wife when his family say he was snatched from the street by plain-clothes officers of the Punjab Police and forced into an unmarked car.

He says he was beaten and tortured by officers over the following days, and given electric shocks to his genitals, before being made to sign a blank confession document.

These allegations have been denied by the Indian authorities.

Mr Johal has remained in detention in a series of Indian prisons ever since, accused of funding the purchase of weapons used to assassinate a number of right-wing Hindu religious and political leaders in the Punjab.

'Talk is meaningless'

He is currently facing eight charges of conspiracy to murder, linked to political violence in India, and could receive the death penalty.

He denies the charges against him and says his arrest and trial are political.

The UK government has previously refused to call for Mr Johal's immediate release - saying it could be seen as interference in the judicial process and would not be in his best interests.

On the plane to Delhi, when asked if he would be raising the case, Mr Sunak had said: "I'll be raising a range of things with Prime Minister Modi - this is something that, just so people are reassured, has already been raised on multiple levels on multiple occasions."

On Friday, Mr Johal's brother Gurpreet - a lawyer and Labour councillor - accused Mr Sunak of allowing Mr Johal to "rot in jail."

Human rights group Reprieve's director Maya Foa said: "Theresa May 'raised' Jagtar's case. So did Boris Johnson. But six years after his abduction and torture he's still in prison, facing a possible death sentence for something he didn't do.

"The government often says ministers have raised the case a hundred times, as if that makes their failure to seek the release of an arbitrarily detained British national any less shameful.

"What did Rishi Sunak say to Narendra Modi about the case and how did he respond? Without answers to these questions, the prime minister's talk is meaningless."