#FreeJaggiNow Campaign: What are our MPs doing?

Ajai Singh

August marked 1000 days since British citizen Jagtar Singh Johal was arrested by Indian authorities on murder charges. However, despite Jaggi’s family enduring three years of heartbreak, pain and being ignored, Indian prosecutors have not yet presented any evidence linking Jagtar to these crimes.

Worryingly, Jagtar’s family and legal team have revealed that he is allegedly being subjected to torture.

On the 1000th day of his incarceration, Jagtar’s local MP Martin Docherty Hughes wrote an open letter to the Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab on Jagtar’s case and the steps the Government is taking to secure a positive outcome.

At the time of writing, approximately sixty MPs have co signed his letter in support.

On behalf of Sikh PA, I contacted 10 MPs (who represent areas with prominent Sikh populations or hold higher office) to ask whether they will be supporting their colleagues in signing this letter.

Here is the email that was sent:

“I am currently working on behalf of the Sikh Press Association which is a news agency covering Sikh issues. You can find out more on our
website: https://www.sikhpa.com/

You may already be aware from your constituents of the unlawful detention of British citizen Jagtar Singh Johal who was arrested in India almost 3 years ago on terrorism charges.

However, Indian prosecutors have not been able to produce credible evidence against him. As a result, he has been languishing in jail for over 1000 days with his family and legal team revealing he is being subject to torture which include beatings and humiliation.

This would not be acceptable in the UK- Jagtar’s family and the Sikh diaspora have constantly lobbied the Foreign Office – with very little
success.

I would also point to you the much more high-profile case of Nazanin Zaghari Ratcliffe who has also been in a similar situation of flawed charges and poor treatment. This is part of a wider pattern of both our ‘allies’ and adversaries treating British citizens with contempt.

Your colleague Martin Docherty-Hughes (who is Jagtar’s Local MP) has written an open letter to the Foreign Secretary on this case on the 1000th day anniversary of his incarceration.

Will you be joining your colleagues in co-signing this letter and expressing solidarity against blatant violations of human rights against British citizens?”

Unfortunately, the following MPs ignored our urgent email: Virendra Sharma MP (Labour, Ealing Southall); Seema Malhotra MP (Labour, Feltham and Heston); Shabana Mahmood MP (Labour, Birmingham Ladywood); Kate Green MP (Labour, Stretford and Urmston); Afzal Khan MP (Labour, Gorton); Lucy Powell MP (Manchester Central); Sir Graham Brady MP (Conservative, Sale and Altrincham West); Liz Kendall MP (Labour, Leicester West); Adam Holloway MP (Conservative, Gravesham- covers Gravesend); Graham Stringer MP (Labour, Blackley and Broughton).

On a more positive note, Shadow Health Secretary Jon Ashworth replied that he had received a response about the case from Lord Ahmad, who is the lead Foreign Office Minister on Jagtar’s case.

He said that consular staff are having telephone conversations with Jagtar as well as being in touch at least weekly with jail authorities to monitor his health during the pandemic as jails are also under lockdown measures. In addition, Lord Ahmad said that he had a conversation with an Indian foreign minister about the case on the 27th July.

However, he did not provide any further details on that conversation. Also, Ashworth did not make it clear as to whether he would be co-signing the open letter.

Angela Rayner, the Deputy Leader of the Labour Party, also replied and reiterated how the Foreign Office must continue to raise the case and was ‘deeply worried’ about the allegations of torture.

Again, she did not make it clear as to whether she would be co-signing the open letter.

The final MP to sign, Claudia Webbe (MP for Leicester East) has stated that she will be happy to co-sign the letter.

It is clear that Jagtar’s case does not seem to be a priority in the eyes of many MPs.

It will be disheartening to many Sikhs that MPs representing areas with prominent Sikh populations have ignored our emails.

The sad reality is – Jagtar is one of many other British citizens who do not seem to be priorities in the eyes of Parliament.

Parliament needs to take a leading role in creating a unified message to nations who detain British citizens unfairly: release the evidence or release the citizens. If not, we will not hesitate to impose sanctions.

Ajai Singh is a freelance journalist based in Manchester covering human interest, opinion, advice and education articles.