Sikh activist “treated like a terrorist” at UK airport, “interrogated” on Sikh issues

UPDATE (04.01.24): Deepa Singh has had his mobile phone returned, with no follow-up expected. The respected activist is still yet to receive an explanation regarding why he was targeted, as stated in a social media post with the update from Sikh Youth UK.

A UK Sikh activist has revealed how this week he was subjected to a humiliating detainment and “interrogation…like a terrorist” under the much criticised Schedule 7 counterterror law at Gatwick airport.

Deepa Singh (Kaldip Singh Lehal) of Sikh Youth UK, who has won an award for community services to Sandwell borough, was flying back into the UK on 25th December when ten counter-terrorism officers from the Southeast division met him on his plane. He then was forced to hand over devices and passwords or face charges, before being questioned into night on various Sikh issues.

News of the incident was shared online by the Sikh Youth UK page, coming only days after Deepa Singh himself outlined the harassment UK Sikh activists faced under the Schedule 7 law on The Sikh Network podcast, in an issue linked to India’s transnational repression agenda against Sikh activists.

Deepa Singh is a lead sevadaar (selfless servant) of Sikh Youth UK, a community group focused on social reform within Sikh communities. The topics Deepa Singh was questioned on included India’s arbitrary imprisonment of Scottish Sikh political prisoner Jagtar Singh Johal, the assassinations of Shaheed (martyr) Bhai Avtar Singh Khanda and Shaheed Bhai Hardeep Singh Nijjar (this year in June in the UK and Canada respectively) and other issues around UK-India collusion.

Deepa Singh has long been vocal on speaking on issues such as collusion between UK and the Indian State in targeting Sikh activists. Evidence of this collusion includes findings that UK intelligence services facilitated India’s illegal capture and torture of Jagtar Singh Johal, the fact Indian authorities had classified details on a UK police raid against Sikh activists in 2018 and the activities of political figures such as Conservative MP Bob Blackman, who has routinely regurgitated anti-Sikh Indian State propaganda about UK Sikhs, only to be found taking payments from pro- Indian nationalist groups.

In September 2018, Deepa Singh was one of five Sikh men whose homes were raided in a UK counterterror operation which Indian authorities claimed occurred due to “diplomatic pressure“. The men targeted were all Sikh activists helping to mobilise the community in aid of the #FreeJaggiNow campaign regarding Scottish political prisoner Jagtar Singh Johal (detained in India since 2017).

Deepa Singh is the only one of the five to have been officially accused of a crime – to which he has pled not guilty – resulting from those raids, facing a non-terror related charge of breaching Charity Commission rules, even though Sikh Youth UK was not a registered charity. That accusation has been left dangling over his head ever since, with authorities STILL not taking the case forward to trial to this day.

Deepa Singh’s interrogation comes as India’s anti-Sikh transnational repression program – which has included assassination – has been exposed by Canadian and US authorities this year, finally affirming what Sikhs have said for years.

Speaking to Sikh PA about the situation, Deepa Singh said:

“I firmly believe that these ongoing harassment tactics are employed by the UK authorities to target individuals like myself. My effort to mobilise the Sikh community to speak up for ourselves where we are being targeted is a thorn-in-the-side of governments looking to subjugate Sikhs.

“I help organise protests, I have exposed where police have let the Sikh community down regarding issues like grooming, and I rally in support for Khalistan (free Sikh homeland movement). As the UK continues to pander towards India for trade, they are clearly also pandering to India’s agenda to destroy the Khalistan movement.

“I have done nothing that deserves for me to be treated like a terrorist, interrogated through the night and have to worry about my doors being kicked if India requests it. The UK Sikh community need to wake up and realise if this can happen to me, it can happen to anyone, and it will start happening to even more of us. It is already happening to more than you realise. With an election next year, and Canada and the USA already exposing this issue, it is time we demand the UK government come clean about why Sikh activists face this targeting.”

Speaking on the situation, Sikh Press Association Senior Press Officer Jasveer Singh said:

“The targeting of Deepa Singh is just the tip of the iceberg. It is the most high-profile example of an issue various Sikh activists face, and I am sure people of other communities too, due to his work exposing anti-Sikh human rights abuses in India and the UK.”

UK based Sikh legal rights group Sikh Human Rights stated:

“A man first arrested in 2018 for accusations of ‘terrorism’ would not be free in 2023 if he was doing anything wrong. Deepa Singh is not a criminal. He is an activist being harassed by UK authorities to intimidate him from continuing to speak against India’s transnational repression, an issue which Canada and the USA have recently exposed to the public too. As the world watches to see how the UK respond to these revelations, it is telling we are seeing this brazen uptake in the targeting of Sikh activists.”

Media inquiries- media@sikhpa.com.