THE lawyer representing the Scotsman held in “arbitrary detention” in India since 2017 is on a phone-hacking list, according to a report from the country.
Advocate Jaspal Singh Manjhpur acts for Jagtar Singh Johal, who has accused Indian authorities of torturing him to extract a false confession related to the funding of an assassination plot.
MPs say the treatment of the fitness fan, a Sikh blogger who was in India to get married, amounts to arbitrary detention – but the UK Government hasn’t adopted that definition.
Johal, known as Jaggi, maintains his innocence and his representatives have accused the judicial system of deliberately drawing out his detention through repeated court delays.
Now Indian publication The Wire has reported that Manjhpur’s name appears on a leaked list of thousands of numbers analysed by the Pegasus Project, an investigative team involving more than 80 journalists from 17 news organisations in 10 countries and backed by Amnesty International’s Security Lab.
Manjhpur was, it is claimed, chosen as a possible candidate for surveillance in 2018 using military-grade spyware developed by Israel’s NSO Group.
The system is licensed to tackle serious and organised crime and terrorism and the year coincides with Manjhpur’s involvement in the Scot’s case. In August 2018, shortly after his name was added to the list, he came to Scotland to meet Johal’s family.
Martin Docherty-Hughes, their MP, has called the development “deeply troubling”, adding: “We should not be surprised by these allegations.”
Manjhpur, a human rights advocate, told The Wire: “I know that I’m a person of interest for the Union government. I’ve always been.”
Johal is accused of giving £3000 to a plot to kill eight people from 2016-17.
His family believes his arrest and detention is related to his blogging on the site Never Forget 84, which is dedicated to the anti-Sikh pogroms that took place that year in India.
In a document circulated to UK MPs in June, Indian authorities claimed he’s never raised torture claims with a judge, has tried to “subvert the judicial process” from his cell and is trying to trick Scots into supporting him.
Why are you making commenting on The National only available to subscribers?
We know there are thousands of National readers who want to debate, argue and go back and forth in the comments section of our stories. We’ve got the most informed readers in Scotland, asking each other the big questions about the future of our country.
Unfortunately, though, these important debates are being spoiled by a vocal minority of trolls who aren’t really interested in the issues, try to derail the conversations, register under fake names, and post vile abuse.
So that’s why we’ve decided to make the ability to comment only available to our paying subscribers. That way, all the trolls who post abuse on our website will have to pay if they want to join the debate – and risk a permanent ban from the account that they subscribe with.
The conversation will go back to what it should be about – people who care passionately about the issues, but disagree constructively on what we should do about them. Let’s get that debate started!
Callum Baird, Editor of The National
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules here