Starmer urged to intervene in ‘rigged’ Indian prosecution of British human rights activist

Members of the Free Jaggi Now campaign, en route to handing in a petition to 10 Downing Street in 2022. Dumbarton resident Jagtar Singh Johal was in Punjab for his wedding in 2017 when his family say he was bundled into an unmarked car. Photograph: James Manning/PA View image in fullscreen Members of the Free Jaggi Now campaign, en route to handing in a petition to 10 Downing Street in 2022. Dumbarton resident Jagtar Singh Johal was in Punjab for his wedding in 2017 when his family say he was bundled into an unmarked car. Photograph: James Manning/PA Starmer urged to intervene in ‘rigged’ Indian prosecution of British human rights activist Senior lawyers call on prime minister to request Indian prosecutors drop charges that would breach double jeopardy rule Four senior lawyers, including the former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against the British national Jagtar Singh Johal on the basis that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule which prevents someone being tried twice for the same offence. Johal has been held in an Indian jail for eight years, and in March last year was acquitted of the terrorist charges laid against him in a court in Punjab. The court found the prosecutors had “miserably failed” to present any reliable evidence, despite having had seven years to do so. Despite his acquittal, Johal faces eight essentially duplicate cases filed by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA), all based on the same “confession” printed on a sheet of paper that his supporters claim he signed after he was tortured by police with electricity and threatened with being burned alive. The letter urging Starmer, as a former human rights lawyer, to recognise the legal justice in intervening has also been signed by the distinguished barrister Lady Helena Kennedy, the former Lord Advocate for Scotland , Dame Elish Angiolini, and Geoffrey Robertson KC. It is hoped that the calibre of the letter writers might galvanise Starmer to intervene. In their letter, the four say it would be “entirely appropriate” for the UK government to ask the Indian government to drop the remaining case since domestic Indian proceedings would have acquitted Johal of all charges against him. The double jeopardy rule, they say, “reflects a basic and intuitive principle that in a just system, no one should be repeatedly prosecuted, tried or punished for crimes of which they have already been convicted or acquitted. The prohibition of double jeopardy exists across multiple areas of international law, including international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law. It is generally considered to form part of the right to a fair trial, which itself is part of customary international law, meaning it applies to all states, irrespective of whether they are party to a particular treaty or agreement.” They further point out th