Zaghari-Ratcliffe and husband join protest calling for return of British national detained in India

Hundreds of people, including Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe and her husband Richard, have marched on Downing Street demanding the government calls for the release of a British Sikh man imprisoned in India.

Blogger Jagtar Singh Johal was detained in Punjab in 2017 and says he faces the death penalty over his activism and campaigning for Sikh human rights.

The 35-year-old from Dumbarton has claimed he was beaten and electrocuted by the Punjab Police and was forced to sign blank documents.

He had been in northern India for his wedding when his family say he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car.

The protest, on the eve of the fifth anniversary of his detention, comes after claims MI5 and MI6 spies supplied information that led to the torture of Mr Johal.

If confirmed, it would be a breach of Britain’s commitment to human rights.

Among the protesters today were Richard Ratcliffe and his wife Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe, the British-Iranian woman who was detained in Iran for six years after being accused of plotting to overthrow the government.

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Mr Ratcliffe, who called the UK government’s handling of Mr Johal’s case “disingenuous”, said: “While Foreign Office officials have been looking the family in the eye and promising them they are doing all they can, ministers have been prioritising fancy dinners and trade deals.”

‘They advise families to keep quiet so the rest of us don’t see’

He told Sky News: “It is really cold when you see it close up. They advise families to keep quiet so the rest of us don’t see.”

“The government talks about its support for the family, and about protecting British citizens. Yet here is a case, someone has been held illegally and tortured for five years, where it looks as though the UK had a role in enabling that,” he added.

‘We’ve heard so many empty words from the UK government’

Gurpreet Singh Johal, Mr Johal’s elder brother, said in the past five years “we’ve heard so many empty words from the UK government”.

He told Sky News: “They say they’re concerned, that his case is a priority, that they’ve raised it at the highest level, but they won’t do the one thing that could make a difference, which is to demand his release.

“We will never give up campaigning for Jagtar until he’s on a flight home to his family.”

Earlier this year, a panel of UN legal experts said Mr Johal’s detention was arbitrary, lacked “legal basis” and was based on “discriminatory grounds” owing to his Sikh faith and his “status as a human rights defender”.

A Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) spokesperson said it has consistently raised concerns about Mr Johal’s case, including his allegations of torture.

They said: “The UK strongly opposes the death penalty in all circumstances as a matter of principle and we will continue to make this clear to the government of India.”

Sky News has been told that during his trip to India last week, Foreign Secretary James Cleverly raised Mr Johal’s case with his Indian counterpart, Subrahmanyam Jaishankar.

Lawyers for Mr Johal have launched legal action against the Home Office, the Foreign Office and the attorney-general over claims that the British government was implicated in supplying information to the Indian authorities.

The allegations on the UK’s intelligence agencies will be explored fully during the litigation, “which is the right place to do so”, say FCDO.

The Indian government has been contacted for comment.

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