MI5 and MI6 have been accused of supplying information that led to the abduction and alleged torture of a Scottish Sikh. Jagtar Singh Johal, from Dumbarton, was in Punjab in northern India for his wedding in 2017 when his family say he was arrested and bundled into an unmarked car.
The 35-year-old said he has been detained and subjected to torture, including electric shocks, and faces the death penalty over his activism and campaigning for Sikh human rights. Now lawyers for Mr Johal have lodged a complaint after human rights group Reprieve identified his case among anonymised details published in the annual report by the UK's investigatory powers commissioner.
It sets out how MI5 and MI6 passed information about a British national to foreign authorities who then detained and tortured them, which matches details in Mr Johal's case. This year the United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention determined that Mr Johal's detention "lacks legal basis", was based on "discriminatory grounds" owing to his Sikh faith and his "status as a human rights defender".
