March 4 (UPI) — Human rights activist and Scottish citizen Jagtar Singh Johal was acquitted Tuesday on all charges following accusations of committing terrorist acts against India.
Arrested in 2017 following his wedding in the country’s northern Punjab region, he has been jailed there since his arrest, but the District Court in Moga, Punjab has acquitted him of conspiracy under India’s anti-terror law and of belonging a member of a “terrorist gang”.
However, Johal must remain in prison as he still faces eight other cases brought by India’s National Investigation Agency (NIA) based on his alleged confession.
Accused of being a member of a terrorist organization known as the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), which has carried out violence in the Punjab region, Johal’s lawyers purport that he was tortured following his arrest and coerced into signing a false confession to participation in attacks and killings of Hindu nationalists and other religious leaders in 2016 and 2017.
The charges against Johal allege he traveled to France and delivered close to $4,000 to KLF members, which was used to buy weaponry to commit the attacks. He still faces the death penalty in accordance with the cases against him.
Johal’s legal team alleged he was tortured with electric shocks and threatened with being burned alive, forcing him to sign his name to a blank piece of paper, and made to record a confession video which was broadcast on Indian television.
The acquittal is expected to renew pressure on the United Kingdom’s Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) to have him released.
A spokesperson for FCDO said that the “U.K. government remains committed to working for faster progress on Jagtar’s case, and the FCDO continue to work to support Mr. Johal and his family.”
