UK – Daily Record, November 04, 2024
Scottish Labour MPs have urged Keir Starmer to prioritise the release of a Dumbarton man who faces the death penalty in India, on the seventh anniversary of his arrest. A group of 16 MPs have written to the Prime Minister asking him to have Jagtar Singh Johal, 37, released from prison.
He was arrested in November 2017 in Punjab, northern India, while in the country for his wedding. Johal was born in Glasgow and had moved to Dumbarton. He had been a campaigner for Sikh rights in India.
He is said to have been tortured, including with electric shocks, and faces the death penalty for eight charges in India. He claims he was forced to sign a blank confession after being tortured and made to record a video which was broadcast on Indian TV.
The letter says the failure by previous Conservative governments to get him released is a “breach of the foremost duty of any Government to protect its citizens at home and abroad”.
It adds: “Jagtar has had seven years of his life cruelly stolen from him… we urge you to send a message about the priority that your Government places on protecting its citizens from abuse abroad. We ask you to make securing Jagtar’s release a priority, and ensure your Government does whatever it takes to bring him home to his family in Dumbarton.”
