Jagtar Singh Johal: Dumbarton prisoner's letter to Liz Truss

Jagtar Singh Johal, also known as Jaggi, was arrested on November 4, 2017 after travelling to the Punjab for his wedding, with local media linking his detention to the killing of Hindu leaders in the area.

The 35-year-old said he has been detained and subjected to torture, including electric shocks, and faces the death penalty over his activism and campaigning for Sikh human rights.

In the letter, released by human rights organisation Reprieve on social media, he urged her to show "more guts" on his detention than her predecessors.

Mr Johal describes his case as "highly politically motivated" and urges the new prime minister to "make a stand and act" to secure his release.

He states that he hopes his "freedom will not be traded in return" for increased business links between the UK and India, and also raises the case of another British man held in the same Delhi prison.

Reprieve (Image: Reprieve)

Mr Johal is accused by the Indian government of being part of a terrorist plot which carried out the murders of prominent right-wing religious figures in 2017.

Also on September 7, he appeared for his 188th further preliminary hearing in court in Delhi but the case was adjourned to a further date.

SNP MP Martin Docherty-Hughes said: “My constituent has now had his 188th pre-trial hearing suspended today because the courts in India couldn’t make their mind up.”

He added: “Lawyers representing my constituent submitted a motion at the Royal Courts of Justice seeking redress after compelling evidence emerged linking the United Kingdom Government directly to his arrest and torture almost five years ago.”

Hard questions

Mr Docherty-Hughes said the information has “posed a multitude of hard questions” for the UK Government and new prime minister Liz Truss, given she was formerly foreign secretary.

He said: “Like hundreds of thousands of UK citizens of Sikh ethnicity, the Singh Johal family travel to India every year yet now they must wonder if it’s safe for them to continue to do so.”

Mr Docherty-Hughes suggested the difficulties experienced by Mr Johal have been “caused directly, at least for me, by the intervention of the state which is meant to protect him”.

He went on: “We have a family, an MP and a House of Commons who want answers on who knew what and when.”

Previously the Reporter told how lawyers for Mr Johal have lodged a complaint after human rights group Reprieve identified his case among anonymised details published in the annual report by the UK’s investigatory powers commissioner.

It sets out how MI5 and MI6 passed information about a British national to foreign authorities who then detained and tortured them, which matches details in Mr Johal’s case.

This year the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that Mr Johal’s detention “lacks legal basis”, was based on “discriminatory grounds” owing to his Sikh faith and his “status as a human rights defender”.