It is nearing a decade since Gurpreet Singh Johal's world came crashing down with the news his brother had vanished from the streets of northern India.
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brother → near → India
Jagtar Singh Johal had gone to the country in November 2017 to get married.
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Johal → go → November
But three weeks later he was surrounded by officials, blinded by a hood and bundled into a vehicle.
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he → surround → vehicle
In one swift move, the Dumbarton-born activist's life came to a dramatic halt as he was chucked behind bars.
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he → bear → bars
There, Jagtar alleges he was heinously tortured for three days – which only came to an end when he signed a blank document purportedly confessing to terrorism charges.
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he → allege → charges
The Sikh activist spent years imprisoned indefinitely without a full trial or any convictions before finally walking free from Delhi's Tihar Prison on bail this week.
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activist → spend → bail
The 39-year-old and his family vehemently deny the charges put against him, including membership of a terrorist gang and conspiracy to murder, while they say not even an 'ounce' of evidence has been produced.
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ounce → deny → evidence
If found guilty, Jagtar could face the death penalty.
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Jagtar → find → penalty
His family say that outcome would leave the UK Government with blood on its hands, accusing ministers of prioritising diplomatic relations over the human rights of their citizens.
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outcome → say → citizens
According to Indian prosecutors, Jagtar's blog posts about the bloodshed that rocked Punjab in the 1980s during the movement for a separate Sikh state brought him into contact with activists seeking to destabilise India.
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that → accord → India
They accuse him of funding the armed terrorist organisation Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF) in 2013, who seek the Sikh homeland deemed Khalistan, and their extremist plot involving assassinations in 2016 and 2017.
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who → accuse → 2016
In an exclusive interview with the Daily Mail, his brother Gurpreet reveals the emotional rollercoaster his family have experienced – as he denounces the UK Government for its alleged inaction in helping secure his sibling's freedom.
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he → reveal → freedom
Gurpreet Singh Johal (left) pictured alongside his brother Jagtar Singh Johal
Jagtar had gone to the country in November 2017 to get married.
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Jagtar → picture → November
But three weeks later he was surrounded by officials, blinded by a hood and bundled into a vehicle
'
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he → surround → vehicle
Jagtar has been proven not to be guilty and acquitted of all charges in one case.
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Jagtar → prove → case
If he were to get the death penalty, I would say that the British government would have a hand in this, and the hand would be lack of action over the last nine years,' Gurpreet, 41, told the Mail.
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Gurpreet → get → Mail
It is a horrible thing to think about.
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It → think → ?
But you know what's more horrible: the thought that your government, the country you're born and bred in cannot protect you, and will not protect you, and they'll put trade over human rights.
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they → know → rights
Jagtar faces eight charges of terrorism in a federal court, yet has been cleared of similar charges by a Punjab court.
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Jagtar → face → court
Prosecution claims he was a KLF member and had 'complete knowledge of the conspiracy'.
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he → claim → conspiracy
But he alleges any previous confessions were extracted under torture.
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confessions → allege → torture
The family believe the Indian prosecution are striving to keep Jagtar in the case, which is hinged on being an international conspiracy to cause terror within India, as he is the only non Indian national.
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he → believe → India
For Gurpreet, the turmoil started with a phone call from his sister-in-law Gurpreet Kaur in the early hours of the morning on November 4, 2017, who frantically said: 'He's been taken.
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He → start → November
We don't know who's taken him or where he is.'
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he → know → him
Discouraged by an alleged lack of help from the UK's Foreign Office, the Scottish lawyer flew to India to find his brother – where he, along with his younger brother, spent two days before they found their sibling.
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they → discourage → sibling
Then, Gurpreet explained, 'the world shook beneath' as he watched the chief minister of Punjab nationally broadcast that he was guilty of murder.
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he → explain → murder
The two men were inundated by concerns from their family, who urged them to come home over concerns they may also be detained.
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they → inundate → concerns
That moment sticks with Gurpreet to this day.
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moment → stick → day
'I've always looked back and felt I shouldn't have left my younger brother there.
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I → look → brother
That night when I came back, I cried to sleep that night on the on the context that I'm sleeping on a bed, and I don't know where my brother is, and it was an unbearable moment,' he explained.
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he → come → bed
Jagtar is pictured with his wife Gurpreet Kaur at their engagement party in 2017
'
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Jagtar → picture → 2017
I still look back and say, "could he have been out earlier if I hadn't come back?"
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I → look → ?
But on the other side, everybody says, if he didn't come back, then who would have ran the campaign to date.
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who → say → date
Yet, the family's turmoil inflamed further after becoming aware their loved one had undergone days-long torture.
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one → inflame → torture
'I thought, how can a British national, being born and bred here, how could a British national ever be tortured?
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national → think → ?
But it was evident that he could,' Gurpreet said.
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Gurpreet → say → ?
And then we received a letter Jagtar gave to the lawyers detailing exactly what torture he suffered in terms of the confession.
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he → receive → confession
Jagtar repeatedly said he was made to sign blank documents.
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he → say → documents
So we do not know what was written on it, all we know was he was made to sign blank documents.
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he → know → documents
It is understood Jagtar was subjected to electric shocks, stress positions, sleep deprivation and threats of being killed.
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Jagtar → understand → shocks
…and 18 more, not listed.
The Aporia
