THE MP of Jagtar Singh Johal has demanded to know which UK Government ministers were in the chain that apparently led to intelligence being shared prior to his abduction and alleged torture in India.
Johal – known as Jaggi - was in Punjab in Northern India in 2017 when his family say he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car. He says he was then tortured for days, including with electrocution, and has remained in detention since then.
Human rights group Reprieve has now accused British intelligence agencies MI5 and MI6 of providing a tip-off that ultimately led to the arrest of Johal, who was originally from Dumbarton.
Martin Docherty-Hughes, West Dunbartonshire's MP, has said he wants to know which ministers were involved, what they knew about the risks of torture should Johal be arrested, and what interest they had in “offering up one of our own in this fashion”.
He said: “This is a truly astonishing and unanticipated development in Jagtar’s case which raises massive questions not only for his family in Dumbarton, and for the millions of UK citizens who travel to India regularly, but also for those who study UK Foreign Policy in practice.
“If proven, these allegations risk destroying whatever confidence Britain’s Sikh, and other minority populations, had in the security services, and by extension calls into question what value the UK Government saw in this shadowy transaction.
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“As Jagtar’s constituency MP, I want to know which UK Government Ministers were in the chain which ultimately led to this intelligence being shared; what they knew about the risks of torture should Jagtar be detained by the Indian police and ultimately what the conceivable interest to UK citizens could have been from offering one of our own up in this fashion.
“I’m sure now we are going to begin a long quest for justice for Jagtar and his family, who have been robbed of almost five years of their life with their husband, son and brother: the UK Government can begin the process of making good on this by making sure he is released and brought home to Dumbarton, as a matter of urgency."
Successive prime ministers have raised Johal’s case but the Indian government has denied he was mistreated or tortured.
Johal was an active blogger and campaigner for Sikh human rights, which is said to be the reason he was brought to the attention of the Indian authorities.
In May, he was formally charged with conspiracy to commit murder and being a member of a terrorist gang.
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He will be presented with a full list of all the charges being brought against him next month and could face the death penalty.
Reprieve has shown documentation to the BBC which says there is strong evidence Johal’s arrest came from a tip-off from British intelligence. The UK Government has said it will not comment on an ongoing legal case.
Reprieve says it has matched several details relating to his case to a specific claim of mistreatment documented in a report by the watchdog which oversees the intelligence agencies.
A report from the Investigatory Powers Commissioner’s Office (Ipco) said: “In the course of an investigation, MI5 passed intelligence to a liaison partner via the Secret Intelligence Service (MI6).
“The subject of the intelligence was arrested by the liaison partner in their country. The individual told the British Consular’s Official that he had been tortured.”
Johal does not appear by name in the report, but Reprieve’s investigators believe the facts match his case owing to the dates concerned, the lobbying by British prime ministers and supporting evidence detailed in the Indian press.
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