Meeting with Foreign Secretary disappointing, says detainee’s brother

The brother of a man arbitrarily detained in India has said he todays meeting with the Foreign Secretary was “one of the most disappointing meetings yet”.

Gurpreet Singh Johal met the Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper on Monday to ask how the UK Government plans to secure his brother’s release from arbitrary detention in India.

Jagtar Singh Johal, 38, was arrested in connection with terror-related offences in the Punjab region while celebrating his honeymoon in November 2017.

His brother has been campaigning for his release for eight years, meeting each Foreign Secretary in that time. Mr Singh Johal said his meeting on Monday with Ms Cooper was “devastating”.

Mr Johal said: “Honestly, I don’t know why I bothered taking the train down from Glasgow for this. I’ve now met six foreign secretaries and this is one of the most disappointing meetings yet – it felt like a significant step back.

“The Prime Minister made a big deal of this meeting, so to show up and hear the same empty talk is devastating.”

Mr Johal, from Dumbarton, is accused of being a member of a terror group, the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), which has carried out attacks in the Punjab region.

His supporters say that in the days following his arrest he was tortured and coerced into signing a false confession to participation in the killings.

Mr Johal was a blogger who spoke about alleged human rights issues against the Sikh community in India.

He has not been convicted of any crime and in March was cleared in one of nine cases against him.

The Indian authorities deny the torture claim and have repeatedly maintained due process is being followed.

Legal charity Reprieve has been providing legal and investigative support to Jagtar Singh Johal and his family since his arrest.

Reprieve’s deputy chief executive Dan Dolan said that failure to resolve this case “would project terrible weakness”.

Mr Dolan said: “It is very clear by now that unless the UK Government takes stronger action, Jagtar will at best spend decades in prison, in a never-ending trial with no evidence, and at worst be sentenced to death and executed.

“Failing to resolve this case would project terrible weakness – signalling to allies and enemies alike that they can arbitrarily detain British citizens as a point of leverage.”

Alicia Kearns MP, chair of the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Arbitrary Detention and Hostage Affairs, said: “Jagtar’s family are at their wits’ ends. Their loved one has been moved to a prison so dangerous and inhumane that the Government won’t allow Indian criminals to be extradited to it.

“The Labour Government has had two opportunities to bring Jagtar home: when he was acquitted in March of some charges, and when they signed the India Trade Deal.

“Both were squandered because they were so desperate for a trade deal to mitigate their domestic economic failures.

“Now Jagtar, a British national imprisoned for standing up for human rights, will suffer because of their negligence as he faces a terrifying prison with a death sentence hanging over his head.

“Today’s meeting with the Foreign Secretary dashed the family’s hopes after Labour so cynically and callously raised them when they were in opposition. The Foreign Secretary needs to stand up for Jagtar, get him moved to a safer prison and get him home, now.”

A Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office spokesperson said: “We continue to raise concerns about Mr Johal’s prolonged detention at every appropriate opportunity with the government of India, and we have made clear that faster progress is needed to reach a resolution, including a full investigation into Mr Johal’s allegations of torture.”