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Prof. Davinderpal Singh Bhullar needs our help. Canadian Sikhs can play an important role in stopping his execution by writing to our elected officials and letting them know about the situation.

Prof. Bhullar's was convicted of the charge of plotting terrorist attacks and sentenced to death in 2001 based on a confession made under torture while in police custody.

In 2003 Prof. Bhullar filed a petition for mercy, supported by Amnesty International and the German Bundestag’s Committee on Human Rights and Humanitarian Aid, which Indian President Pratibha Patil denied on May 26, 2011.

The WSO stands against the death penalty as a violation of basic human rights and has called on India to establish a moratorium on executions in accordance with the UN’s Commission on Human Rights resolution in 1999.

This story has a Canadian connection as well. Prof. Bhullar's wife, Navneet Kaur is a Canadian citizen who currently resides with her parents in Surrey and has watched her husband's health steadily decline since 2001 as he has languished in solitary confinement.

WSO has written to Canada’s Minister of Foreign Affairs John Baird along with the leaders of the opposition Jack Layton and Bob Rae requesting that they call on India to stay Prof. Bhullar’s execution. Correspondence has also been sent to Ambassador Matthias Brinkmann, Head of Delegation of the European Union to Canada asking that he work in conjunction with the German and Canadian governments to halt Prof. Bhullar’s impending execution.

Now Prof. Bhullar needs YOUR help.

It is important that we write to our elected officials to let them know that Prof. Bhullar's death sentence is a human rights issue we're all concerned about.

Here's what you can do:

Find your MP at http://www.parl.gc.ca/parlinfo/compilations/houseofcommons/MemberByPostalCode.aspx?Menu=HOC

You can also write to the :

1. Minister of Foreign Affairs at Baird.J@parl.gc.ca
2. NDP leader Jack Layton at Layton.J@parl.gc.ca
3. Liberal leader Bob Rae at Rae.B@parl.gc.ca

Write a letter. You can begin by using the template below:

……………………………… MP
Parliament of Canada
Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0A9


Dear ……………………………. MP,

On May 26, 2011, India’s president gave the go ahead to hang Professor Davinderpal Singh Bhullar after rejecting his mercy petition. Human rights organizations including Amnesty International are concerned that Prof. Bhullar may be facing imminent execution. This is of grave concern to me as a Canadian.

Prof. Bhullar was a political activist who was sentenced to death on August 29, 2001, after being found guilty of “plotting terror attacks”. This was after Prof. Bhullar sought political asylum in Germany, but was forcibly returned to India, where he was arrested on arrival in 1995. Subsequent to his deportation Germany has recognized that Prof. Bhullar’s deportation was a violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and should never have taken place.

There are serious concerns that Prof. Bhullar was not given a fair trial. He was arrested under the now-lapsed Terrorists and Disruptive Activities Act, which has no provisions for appeals to the High Court. Furthermore, he was found guilty solely on the strength of an unsubstantiated confession he made in police custody under alleged torture and the threat of death.

A second defendant in the case was acquitted because the only evidence against him was Prof. Bhullar’s confession. Furthermore, none of the 133 witnesses produced by the prosecution identified Prof. Bhullar.

If this is not concerning enough, in December 2001, Prof. Bhullar appealed the death sentence, which was rejected by a three-member bench of the Supreme Court. However, the senior judge of the panel, Justice Shah, in a dissenting decision found that there was no evidence to register a guilty verdict.

Amnesty International has reported that the case was highly contentious and this is the first time in India’s Supreme Court history that someone has been sentenced to death based on a split decision.

There is also a Canadian connection to this story. Prof. Bhullar’s wife is a Canadian citizen and has helplessly watched her husband’s plight. As Prof. Bhullar has spent the last 10 years in solitary confinement in a 7x9ft cell, he has developed severe depression, arthritis and hypertension. His health is steadily declining.

As a Member of Parliament, I ask that you call upon India to respect its human right commitments. The Government of Canada has key role to play in encouraging international human rights. India should be encouraged to place a moratorium on executions. The last execution in India took place in 2004 and Amnesty International has called the dismissal of Prof. Bhullar’s mercy petition a ‘blow to human rights’.

Canada must work with Germany and the European Union in encouraging India to stop Prof. Bhullar’s execution and in ensuring that he is treated fairly. Action must be taken immediately before it is too late.

Sincerely,

XYZ

The World Sikh Organization of Canada (WSO) is a non-profit organization with a mandate to promote and protect the interests of the Sikh Diaspora, as well as to promote and advocate for the protection of human rights for all individuals, irrespective of race, religion, gender, ethnicity, and social and economic status.