Matthew Weaver - THE GUARDIAN
A British Sikh campaigner is facing a possible death sentence after the UK intelligence services passed on information about him to the Indian authorities, according to a high court complaint.
Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested in the Punjab in 2017, where he had travelled for his wedding.© Photograph: Family handout/PA
Lawyers for Jagtar Singh Johal from Dumbarton, Scotland, say he was tortured, including being given electric shocks, after his unlawful arrest in the Punjab in 2017 where he had travelled for his wedding.
The campaign group Reprieve, which is representing him, says it has uncovered documents suggesting MI5 and MI6 tipped off the Indian authorities about Johal.
“No one should ever be tortured, especially not with the assistance of the UK government,” it said in a petition about the case.
Johal’s brother, Gurpreet Singh Johal, a solicitor and Labour councillor in West Dunbartonshire, told the Guardian he was “astonished” to discover the UK’s involvement.
He said: “We’ve repeatedly been told that they are raising the case at the highest level. It feels as if it was all just lip service. They’ve never told us what they’re actually doing.”
He added: “Jagtar’s wife is heartbroken because she really came to the UK thinking that the UK government will be bringing her husband home.”
This month, Johal’s lawyers, Leigh Day, lodged a claim in the high court against the Foreign Office, the Home Office and the attorney general, his brother confirmed.
It alleges UK intelligence agencies unlawfully shared information with the Indian authorities when there was a risk of torture.
Reprieve is calling on the UK foreign secretary to intervene. It said: “As foreign secretary and potential future prime minister, Liz Truss has a duty to right the wrongs of foreign secretaries before her and, in good faith, to bring Jagtar home and reunite him with his family; ban intelligence sharing where there is a real risk of torture or the death penalty; [and] give torture survivors a right to know if the UK was involved in their abuse.”
It added: “Our government should protect us, not expose us to torture and the death penalty.”
Boris Johnson acknowledged this year that the Indian authorities had arbitrarily detained Johal, adding that the UK government had consistently raised concerns about his treatment and right to a fair trial.
After four and half years in detention, Johal’s lawyers were told he would be charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang, for which he faces a possible death penalty. He is expected to be formally charged next month.
The Indian authorities say the charges relate to Sikh nationalism. He denies any wrongdoing.
The Foreign Office said it would not comment on an ongoing legal case.
A statement from the all-party parliamentary group on extraordinary rendition said that if substantiated, the allegations suggested the UK had facilitated arbitrary detention and torture.
In a statement, its co-chairs, Stephen Timms and Andrew Tyrie, said: “The government’s own principles on torture – designed to ensure that the UK is not involved in it – appear to have been breached. Parliament and the public cannot have confidence that the UK is not involved in kidnap and torture.”
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