By Patrick Wintour | The Guardian | Britain |
Keir Starmer has asked Boris Johnson to intervene and request that the Indian government release a British citizen after a UN working group declared his five-year detention arbitrary and without any legal basis.
In a letter, the Labour leader asks why Johnson has not acted to ask for the release of Jagtar Singh Johal given the findings of the UN report on arbitrary detention last month.
Johnson prides himself on his strong relations with the Indian government led by Narendra Modi, but he has not used his influence to make a public call for release.
Starmer writes: “Jagtar was arrested in 2017 after travelling to India for his wedding where he was tortured by police officers into making a so-called ‘confession’ to charges carrying the death penalty.”
Referencing the UN working group on arbitrary detention’s conclusion that Jagtar “was targeted because of his activities as a Sikh practitioner and supporter and because of his activism”, he points out that the UN believes there is no legal basis for his continued detention.
The UN’s expert panel called for Johal’s release, finding that there was no legal basis for Johal’s continued detention, and he had been tortured and denied the right to a fair trial.
Starmer asks in his letter, on behalf of Johal’s family, why the government has not made the same request and when it will do so.
Starmer, a former director of public prosecutions, is the most high-profile politician to take up the case, and his intervention suggests the UK will not be able to keep the issue confined to behind-the-scenes diplomacy indefinitely. Johal’s family, based in Dumbarton, have received support from the Scottish first minister, Nicola Sturgeon, and the campaign organisation Reprieve.
Read the full report, ‘Starmer urges PM to request India release UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal (The Guardian, 3 June 2022), here.
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