Highlights
- UN says Johal's eight year detention without trial is psychological torture.
- Johal was acquitted last year but still faces further charges in India.
- Brother asks Starmer to act after previously urging Johnson to do the same.
Jagtar Singh Johal, 39, from Dumbarton near Glasgow, was arrested in India in 2017 just weeks after his wedding there.
Last year he was acquitted of accusations that he had financially supported a terror group. However Indian authorities have kept him in custody on separate federal charges.
Ten UN experts have called on India to drop all remaining charges and release him. They said keeping someone detained for eight and a half years without a clear path to trial is not justice.
"The prolonged uncertainty alone is a form of psychological torture," they said.
The UN recognised his detention as arbitrary in 2022. Johal has said he was tortured during his time in custody. Indian authorities have denied this and say due process is being followed.
Calls for action
The ten experts include UN special rapporteurs on torture, freedom of religion, minority issues and human rights. They have written to Indian authorities and said they will monitor developments.
His brother Gurpreet Singh Johal met Foreign Secretary Yvette Cooper in December and has again called on the UK government to act.
He noted that Keir Starmer, while in opposition, wrote to then prime minister Boris Johnson urging him to push for Jagtar's release following a previous UN intervention.
"Now he is prime minister himself, will he do everything in his power to get my brother home?" he said.
Gurpreet added that more than a year has passed since his brother was acquitted and the family's plan to secure his release has not been acted on by the UK government.
Legal charities Redress and Reprieve, who support Johal in the UK, have also urged the government to do more.
Reprieve deputy chief executive Dan Dolan said the latest UN statement should be a wake-up call for the UK government.
