Mr Johal is one of the most wanted men in India. He is accused of a series of murders and assaults. His case has been raised almost 100 times and his lawyer fears he will languish in jail. Here is a look at his arrest.
mr-johal’s arrest
Jagtar Singh Johal, a British-Indian who was a leading Sikh human rights campaigner, is still in jail. He is accused of assisting a terrorist group to kill a man in the near future, and has six other cases pending.
The case of Mr Johal has received attention from the British Prime Minister. It was mentioned by Theresa May during a visit to India in 2018. Mrs May said that the “simple act of passing a message to his lawyer in court” was the “first step in what has been a long-winded process to secure his release”.
However, it has been five years since Mr Johal was arrested in the first place, and he has yet to be charged. In fact, he has not been brought to trial in a court of law, despite several appearances.
Mr Johal’s arrest was the focus of a report released by an intelligence watchdog in 2018. A panel of legal experts at the UN said that the incident he was involved in was the most significant and important case of its kind.
The report also suggested that information about Mr Johal posed a multitude of hard questions to the UK government. One question was whether the UK government had the necessary backbone to negotiate with India on his behalf.
His lawyer fears he will languish in jail
Almost three years ago, the British Sikh activist Jagtar Singh Johal was detained in India. He has been held without trial for five years, and faces the death penalty. The case has been highlighted by a United Nations working group on arbitrary detention. However, the UK government has refused to respond to claims that MI5 and MI6 provided information leading to Mr Johal’s arrest.
Mr Johal’s family allege that he was subjected to torture and forced to sign blank statements. They have also complained that he was deprived of medical treatment.
Lawyers for Johal have now filed a claim against the UK Government in the High Court. It alleges that he was subjected to torture, and that the intelligence passed to the police was illegal. This comes after a report from the IPCO concluded that MI5 and MI6 may have contributed to the detention of Mr Johal.
Mr Johal’s case has been raised by both British and Indian politicians. He was targeted for his work as a Sikh activist. As a blogger, he has criticized human rights violations by the Indian Government. Thousands of Sikhs in the UK and Canada have been concerned about his arrest.
A statement released by the human rights charity Reprieve alleges that the UK government helped to facilitate the “arbitrary detention and torture” of Mr Johal. They have sent a legal memo to the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office.
His case has been raised almost 100 times
A quick review of the UK Foreign Office’s website confirms there’s been little action on the subject. The only mention is a remarkably brief paragraph at the bottom of a page of text. There’s been no mention of a formal release or even a phone call to India to discuss Mr Johal’s predicament.
