London [UK], September 7: More than 70 members of parliament (MPs) have urged British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak to use his trip to India to raise the case of a Scottish Sikh blogger who has been jailed in the country for almost six years.
Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was in Punjab in northern India for his wedding in 2017 when his family said he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car. He said he has been tortured, including through electric shocks, and faces the death penalty over his activism and campaigning for Sikh human rights.
Sunak is due to travel to the G20 summit in New Delhi at the weekend and is likely to meet Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
According to the Sikh Federation, a cross-party group of at least 70 MPs have written to Sunak, calling on him to press the Hindu nationalist leader to "immediately release" Johal.
London and New Delhi are currently in negotiations over a post-Brexit trade deal, with reports Sunak could be planning a second visit to India this autumn in a bid to help finalise an agreement.
But the Scottish National Party's (SNP's) Martin Docherty-Hughes, who has campaigned for Johal's freedom, said the "arbitrary detention by the Indian government" of a British national should "challenge the very basis of any trade deal." The West Dunbartonshire MP tweeted: "Rishi Sunak and James Cleverly must stand up for transparency and the rule of law and for Jagtar's rights. Bring him home."
Source: Qatar Tribune
