"Now it's over to the UK government to get it done."
Jagtar Singh Johal has been released on bail after spending nine years detained in India without conviction.
The 39-year-old from Dumbarton, Scotland, was arrested in 2017, just two weeks after his wedding in Punjab, northern India.
His brother Gurpreet said Jagtar was detained after being “bundled into an unmarked car” and has remained in custody while facing allegations linked to terror offences.
On September 18, Gurpreet said the Delhi High Court had overturned a previous 2024 decision and granted Jagtar bail.
However, he was required to remain in India while his trial continues over alleged offences that could carry the death penalty.
Jagtar’s supporters said his bail conditions remain restrictive and that he has been required to surrender his passport.
Following his release, Gurpreet said: “There have been so many setbacks and disappointments in the last nine years that I didn’t dare to believe it until I saw Jagtar walking out of the prison gates with my own eyes.
“The last two weeks have been torture – knowing that Jagtar had been granted bail but the authorities were refusing to let him out.
“I’ll sleep well tonight, knowing that he’s not behind bars.
“Tomorrow morning, the fight continues, because he’s still on trial and facing the death penalty for something he didn’t do, trapped in a sham legal process designed to punish him for standing up for human rights.
“We’ll keep on fighting until he’s home with us. Now it’s over to the UK government to get it done.”
Jagtar was acquitted in 2025 in a case involving accusations that he financially supported a terror group. However, he continues to face federal charges in India relating to the same allegations.
His family maintains that he was detained because of his blogging about alleged human rights abuses against the Sikh community.
They have also alleged that Jagtar was tortured, including through electric shocks, and forced to sign a confession linking him to an assassination plot because of his campaigning for Sikh rights.
A group of UN experts previously described his imprisonment as an example of arbitrary detention, meaning detention without a legal basis. They also said he had endured “a form of psychological torture”.
Indian authorities have denied the torture allegations and have repeatedly maintained that due process is being followed.
Reprieve deputy executive director Dan Dolan said:
“While tonight is the first night in almost nine years that Jagtar Singh Johal is not caged in a prison cell, he still has the threat of a death sentence hanging over him.
“It should also be noted that despite bail being ordered, the prison refused to release Jagtar until his family brought a habeas corpus petition and a judge warned the jail they’d be found in contempt of court.
“Jagtar remains on trial in cases that could last for decades and end in capital punishment, centred on a baseless allegation that has been thrown out in court for lack of evidence.
“His bail conditions deny him any semblance of a normal life.
“The foreign secretary should seize the moment and find a way to bring this young British citizen home to his family in Scotland as soon as possible.”
Jagtar Singh Johal’s release on bail ends almost nine years of imprisonment, but he remains in India while the outstanding legal proceedings continue.
