On Sunday the 30th of September hundreds of members of the Sikh community of Birmingham held a protest outside the Conservative Party Conference in the International Convention Centre (ICC). The protest was run by the Federation of Sikh Organisations (FSO) and lasted through the early hours of the afternoon between 1pm and 3pm.
The protest is against the on-going confinement of UK citizen Jagtar Singh Johal by Indian authorities. Johal is a British Sikh activist who was arrested on the 4th of November 2017 for suspected connections to murder, and for the funding of a banned terrorist organisation Khalistan Liberation Force.
Thirty-one year old Johal had reportedly travelled to India to get married, where he had been engaged six months earlier after visiting Punjab for the first time in several years. Sources say that he out shopping with his wife and cousin when he was hooded and thrown into a van and has now been under detention for over 330 days.
Since his abduction, there have been various public protests by the Sikh community, who have named his confinement unlawful and based upon fabricated allegations. Johal has been the victim of third-degree torture and has been denied council access and access to an independent medical with no fair trial.
The protest saw chanting from hundreds of members of the public for the release of Johal of Dumbarton, as they held banners and signs for the repeal of his confinement. There was also protest against the refusal of Jeremy Hunt, the Foreign Secretary to meet with the Jagtar’s family and their MP Martin Docherty-Hughes of the SNP, even though this had been promised by the previous Foreign Secretary in Parliament.
As a result of pressure from the Sikh community and around 250 MPs that have had letters from constituents about the issue, Theresa May has already been compelled to speak to the media about Johal’s case. The Foreign Minister Rory Stewart has also stood up in parliament in response to a question from Johal’s MP about his torture and warned the Indian authorities about ‘extreme action’ from the UK government.
Despite the movements from Parliament, police raids on homes of five Sikh activists linked to the Jagtar Singh Johal freedom campaign have created huge tensions between the Sikh community, Home Office and the local Police department. Johal has already made 55 court appearances, details of the case are still emerging, but no witnesses or official evidence has yet been put forward in court.
