UK legal team approaches UN to protect Christian Michel from alleged torture

A BRITISH legal team has approached the UN on behalf of UK businessman Christian Michel over alleged human rights violence in India’s Tihar jail. 

UK lawyers have argued that Michel was "unlawfully extradited to India" from the UAE and that he has been held in prison in "squalid conditions" in violation of human rights and also "subjected to torture".

Michel is an accused in a bribery case related to the £398.18 million AgustaWestland deal of 2010. 

The British national is one among three alleged middlemen being investigated in the case. He denies the charges.

 “Having been returned to India, Michel has been held in squalid conditions that breach human rights conditions, subjected to prolonged questioning aimed at securing a confession through coercion,” the legal team alleged.  

UK- based specialist barristers’ chambers ‘Guernica 37 International Justice Chambers’ said Michel was unlawfully handed over to India. 

He is being held in judicial custody in Delhi’s Tihar jail.  

The Delhi High Court granted more time to Michel and the CBI to respond to a plea by the Tihar Jail officials questioning an order permitting him to make international phone calls in violation of jail rules and regulations. 

Last year, Michel was detained by the country’s law enforcement and economic intelligence agency, Enforcement Directorate (ED) and later by the CBI.