Boris Johnson says India arbitrarily detaining British Sikh activist

Letter from PM saying Jagtar Singh Johal is being arbitrarily held comes four and a half years after Johal's arrest

Boris Johnson has for the first time said that the Indian government is arbitrarily detaining Jagtar Singh Johal, the British Sikh activist held in an Indian jail for four and a half years.

In a letter to Keir Starmer seen by the Guardian, the prime minister says Singh has been arbitrarily detained without formal charges being laid against him. He was arrested in 2017 over his alleged role in killings by the Khalistan Liberation Force (KLF), a banned terrorist organisation.