100 MPs and peers back 'decisive' action to free Jagtar Singh Johal

More than 100 MPs and peers have signed a joint letter to Foreign Secretary David Lammy calling for "decisive" action to bring home Indian detainee Jagtar Singh Johal.

The Scot, who says he was tortured by authorities there, has spent more than seven years in custody.

Last month he was acquitted on all charges in a Punjab court after prosecutors failed to produce credible evidence in one case against him.

However, he remains in custody, facing trial in eight cases along the same lines. 

Double jeopardy applies in the Indian legal system, meaning no one should be prosecuted for the same offence more than once.

Almost 120 MPs and peers say there is now "a window of opportunity at this immediate stage to secure Jagtar’s release and bring him home to be reunited with his family".

In a letter to Lammy, they state: "The time has now come to act quickly and decisively. With the acquittal, we now have an opportunity to hold urgent diplomatic discussions with your Indian counterparts. Taking urgent steps now during this window of opportunity, will reassure all those lobbying us on Jagtar’s behalf, that we are doing all we can to secure his immediate release and return to the UK, and therefore reunited with his family as soon as possible."

Signatories include Dumbarton MP Douglas McAllister, who represents the Johal family, as well as Brendan O’Hara MP, acting chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG) for Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs.

Others include Jas Athwal MP, who chairs the APPG for British Sikhs, and the DUP's Jim Shannon, who leads the APPG for International Freedom of Religion or Belief.

Johal's brother Gurpreet Singh Johal, a Labour member of West Dunbartonshire Council, will meet Lammy to discuss the case next week. He said: "The case against my brother has been tested in court and rejected, but the Indian authorities will keep him in prison for decades if the UK Government doesn’t act to secure his release. 

"This is the moment of truth for David Lammy: will he live up to his promises, or will he fail Jagtar like the last six foreign secretaries did?"

It is claimed that Johal transferred money to co-conspirators to fund attacks on right-wing Hindu figures in 2016-17. He travelled to the region for his wedding in late 2017 and was arrested days afterwards.

Johal is backed by international legal charity Reprieve and says the confession used against him by Indian authorities was extracted under torture. He says he signed a blank piece of paper and UN legal experts have said he is being arbitrarily detained.

Reprieve deputy executive director Dan Dolan said: "The previous UK Government wasted years of Jagtar Singh Johal’s life hiding behind the fiction that due process is possible in a case based on a torture confession. 

"This is a politically motivated prosecution of a young British human rights defender, and the process is the punishment. Jagtar has been found not guilty once, after prosecutors failed to present any credible evidence against him in seven years. For him to remain imprisoned for decades, as duplicate trials drag on in defiance of the principle of double jeopardy, would be an obscene injustice. 

"It is time for the government to act on its strong statements in opposition and do what it takes to bring Jagtar home."