Four senior lawyers, including former attorney general Dominic Grieve, have written to Prime Minister Keir Starmer urging him to request that Indian prosecutors drop charges against British national Jagtar Singh Johal. They argue that continued prosecution would be in manifest breach of the double jeopardy rule, which prevents someone from being tried twice for the same offense.
Johal, a Dumbarton resident, has been held in an Indian jail for eight years. In March last year, a court in Punjab acquitted him of terrorist charges, finding that prosecutors had “miserably failed” to present any reliable evidence despite having seven years to do so. However, Johal still 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. His supporters claim he signed the confession after being tortured with electricity and threatened with being burned alive.
The letter, also signed by distinguished barrister Lady Helena Kennedy, former Lord Advocate for Scotland Dame Elish Angiolini, and Geoffrey Robertson KC, urges Starmer, a former human rights lawyer, to recognize the legal justice in intervening. The writers hope that their calibre might galvanize the prime minister to act.
In their letter, the four lawyers state that it would be “entirely appropriate” for the UK government to ask India to drop the remaining cases, since domestic Indian proceedings would have acquitted Johal of all charges. They emphasize that the double jeopardy rule “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 part of the right to a fair trial, which itself is part of customary international law, applying to all states irrespective of treaty obligations.
The lawyers further note that “the basic protection against double jeopardy is recognised in over 50 national constitutions, and is firmly established in common law jurisdictions, including Canada, Australia, Ireland, Israel, the US and New Zealand, as well as India and the UK.” They say the rule is also incorporated in Indian domestic law, so requesting his release would show due deference to the Indian legal system.
They acknowledge that “the UK cannot interfere in the legal systems of other countries, however it is vital that the executive and its agencies of every state respect the rule of law and uphold international minimum standards, particularly in cases involving the death penalty.” United Nations legal experts have found that Johal is arbitrarily detained, having been targeted for his activism exposing human rights abuses against India’s Sikh community.
Jagtar’s brother Gurpreet, based in Dumbarton, said: “the prime minister needs to recognise this is not a legitimate legal process – it is a rigged game designed to punish my brother for his human rights activism, and it is endless. He and his lawyer get called to the court, the NIA finds a pretext for delay, the judge agrees to a two-month adjournment … rinse and repeat. Meanwhile, Jagtar’s life is slipping away and the prime minister does nothing. Sir Keir Starmer knows arbitrary detention when he sees it. He knows what double jeopardy is. It’s time for him to show some leadership and bring Jagtar home.”
