French Sikhs To Protest Against Death Penalty

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French Sikhs To Protest Against Death Penalty

Written by Shingara Singh Mann ( Punjabwire.com )
France (Paris) : In Paris, the Sikhs of France are organising, a gathering in order to protest against the death penalty and unfairly detained Sikh prisoners in India. The gathering is planned to take place at Place Passy, 75016 Paris between 2pm and 4pm on January 30th, 2006. French Sikhs will lodge a petition with the Indian Embassy in Paris, showing their opposition to the death penalty and claiming the release of all Sikh political prisoners unjustly detained in prison in India. .
January 17, 2006 marked the anniversary of one of the most controversial death sentence cases in the history of modern India. On January 17th 1995, Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar, a Sikh political activist was illegally expelled from Germany. He was to return to India on the basis that he would have nothing to fear as far as his personal safety was concerned and that his life would not be in danger in any way there.
However, on his arrival in New Delhi, he was arrested and put in prison, tortured to produce a false confession and subsequently accused and condemned to death for a crime he did not commit.
After Professor Devinderpal Singh Bhullar’s deportation, the Court of Appeal in Frankfurt accepted his appeal for asylum and judged that he should not have been sent back to a country where he would have to face torture and incur the death penalty. This verdict of the Court of Appeal came too late for Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar.
Germany, by expelling Davinderpal Singh Bhullar to a country which has not abolished the death penalty, did not respect his right to asylum and in doing so violated the European Convention of Human Rights.
Germany and the European Union, therefore, have the moral obligation to guarantee that the sentence passed against Davinderpal Singh Bhullar by India will be overturned and that other political prisoners maintained in detention without lawsuit there, under false charges, or without evidence, in some cases for periods as long as since 20 years will be released.