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UK spies accused over arrest of Sikh blogger in India
Jagtar Singh Johal, 35, has been held in detention in India for more than four years.He is accused of being part of a terror plot against right-wing Hindu leaders and has been charged with conspiracy to murder; family members of Johal and other British citizens detained abroad or recently released have called for a law obliging the UK government to actively protect people caught up in such cases
Human rights groups on Tuesday said UK intelligence agencies may have shared information with India that led to the arrest and torture of a Sikh blogger from Scotland.
Jagtar Singh Johal, 35, has been held in detention in India for more than four years.He is accused of being part of a terror plot against right-wing Hindu leaders and has been charged with conspiracy to murder.
“Our investigators have uncovered critical information that in 2017, the UK government may have authorised MI5 and MI6 to share information about UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal,” two organisations, Reprieve and Redress, said in a joint statement.
They claimed this tip-off “led to his unlawful arrest and torture in India”.
Current prime minister Boris Johnson was foreign minister at the time.
Britain is bound by international treaties such as the European Convention on Human Rights not to hand over citizens where they are at risk of torture.
But family members of Johal and other British citizens detained abroad or recently released have called for a law obliging the UK government to actively protect people caught up in such cases.
Johal, from Dumbarton in west Scotland, has filed a legal claim against the UK government and is asking for a public apology and redress.
Reprieve and Redress said Johal was abducted in 2017 with a sack over his head while in India for his wedding. He was held incommunicado for 10 days and tortured with electric shocks to his ear lobes, nipples and genitals until he signed a “false confession”.
The UN working group on arbitrary detention reported this year that Johal’s arrest was “excessive” and “arbitrary” and on “discriminatory grounds”.
India has aired TV footage of Johal’s alleged confession but has denied physical and mental torture, it added. The activist was being held in Tihar prison in New Delhi, the UN body said.
