|
London, UK (KP) -The new year will commence with
a day of worldwide protest on 17 January 2006.
Sikhs in major cities all over the world including
London, Paris, Toronto and New York will be raising
their voices against the death penalty and call
for the release of all Sikh political prisoners
held in jails in India.
Candlelight vigils will take place in cities throughout
the world including in India. Sikhs and non- Sikhs
including influencial politicians, human rights
and trade union activists from more than 100 cities
worldwide are expected to take part in the protest.
The UK candlelight protests will be taking place
simultaneously in twenty towns and cities which
organised by the Sikh Federation (UK), Khalsa
Human Rights, Sikh Secretariat, Young Sikhs (UK),
Sikh student groups, Gurdwaras and the Sadh Sangat.
The protests are being supported by Amnesty International
and other members of the World Coalition Against
the Death Penalty.
London protests will take place in the heart of
the British political circle, that is at the Houses
of Parliament in Westminster between 5-7pm. Alongside
members of public, MPs and Lords will join Sikhs
to light candles celebrating life, freedom and
opposition to the death penalty.
On the 17 January 1995 a Sikh political activist,
Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar was illegally
deported from Germany. The worldwide protest will
focus also highlight the 11th anniversary of one
of the most controversial and highest profile
death penalty cases in recent Indian history.
Davinderpal Singh was handed over to the Indian
authorities on the assurance that he had nothing
to fear on his return to India.
The German authorities unwittingly handed Professor
Davinderpal Singh Bhullar over into the hands
of death of the Government of India. He was arrested
and put in prison as soon as he landed in Delhi,
tortured to obtain a false confession, charged
and sentenced to death by hanging for a crime
he did not commit.
The German authorities grossly violated the European
Convention on Human Rights when it deported Professor
Davinderpal Singh Bhullar to a pro death penalty
state such as India. After his deportation, the
Court of Appeals in Frankfurt heard his appeal
and said that he should not have been deported
as he would face torture, harassment and death
in India and while with his reentry into Germany
he would have been given asylum.
The verdict of the Court of Appeals in Germany
has come too late for Davinderpal Singh. This
has however left Germany and the EU with a moral
obligation to ensure that the threat of the death
penalty by India is removed and Davinderpal Singh
and other political prisoners who are illegally
being held, without trial, under false charges
or without evidence, are released immediately.
Protest vigils will be taking place throughout
the world and major cities of UK and Europe as
well as Canada and United States. It is hoped
that Sikhs will organise more candlelight vigils
in more cities with Gurdwaras and local students
and Sikh Associations taking an active lead. |
