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Video: Why an 83-year-old Indian Jesuit – Fr. Stan Swamy – is still in prison

Video: Why an 83-year-old Indian Jesuit – Fr. Stan Swamy – is still in prison


en | 40min | 2021

By America – The Jesuit Review

For almost six months, 84-year-old Stan Swamy, S.J., has been held in a Mumbai jail on charges of sedition and contravention of India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention Act) (U.A.P.A.) of 1967. Repeated requests for his release on humanitarian grounds have been denied. In this episode of Behind the Story, America editor Ricardo da Silva, S.J., is joined by two Jesuits who know Fr. Swamy—Xavier Jeyaraj, S.J., and Cedric Prakash, S.J.—to assess Fr. Swamy’s current situation, why his request for bail has been twice denied and the next steps in his legal case.

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A roadmap of our conversation:
02:12 — The situation of Father Stan Swamy, S.J. as of April 2020
04:10 — The accusations brought against him
05:58 — The circumstances that mitigate against his release
08:35 — Links to Bhima Koregaon and Elgar Parishad
12:55 — The evidence the National Investigation Agency alleges to have against him
17:25 — The Maoists; the Naxalites and the Communist Party of India?
22:55 — The campaign for his release #StandwithStan​?
25:00 — Father Swamy’s work and ministry to the most impoverished of India
28:25 — What the Vatican knows about the situation and what the Catholic Church is doing
30:00 — The larger politics at play and the threats to democracy in India
34:45 — The future of his case and further attempts to grant bail on humanitarian grounds

Bhima Koregaon case shows ‘deteriorating democracy’ in India: Panelists at US congressional briefing / Watch video

Bhima Koregaon case shows ‘deteriorating democracy’ in India: Panelists at US congressional briefing / Watch video

Bhima Koregaon case shows ‘deteriorating democracy’ in India: Panelists at US congressional briefing

23/04/2021

Scroll.in / by Scroll Staff

This came after a Massachusetts-based digital forensics firm found further evidence that 22 letters were planted in activist Rona Wilson’s laptop.
A US congressional briefing held by a coalition of Indian American and human rights organisations on Thursday said that the Bhima Koregaon violence case was a clear evidence of “deteriorating democracy” in India. The briefing took place on Thursday after a new report from a United States-based digital forensics firm revealed that a hacker planted 22 additional incriminating documents in activist Rona Wilson’s laptop.
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Video: India’s Most Important Human Rights Defenders Incarcerated Without Trial

20/04/2021


en |1h30min | 2021

By Hindus for Human Rights

Congressional briefing
April 22, 2021
On February 10, Washington Post showed how renowned human rights defenders in India were incarcerated on the basis of forged files planted using malware. Hear experts on digital forensics and human rights speak about the landmark Bhima-Koregaon case, seen as the most significant test case for human rights and rule of law in India.
This Thursday, HfHR and our partners are hosting a Congressional Briefing on the #BhimaKoregaon case, in which Indian human rights activists have been incarcerated on the basis of forged evidence.
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There Is No Case. Release the Bhima Koregaon 16 and Compensate Them

There Is No Case. Release the Bhima Koregaon 16 and Compensate Them


by American Bar Association Justice Defenders Program (April 22):
+++ We are extremely concerned regarding further reports of evidence tampering to incriminate the #BhimaKoregaon activists and continue to call for their immediate release +++
We previously facilitated the work of @ArsenalArmed to conduct a forensic review of a computer seized by police and used as evidence in the #BhimaKoregaon cases. The report finds that an attacker used malware to infiltrate the laptop, depositing at least 10 incriminating letters +++
The latest report by Arsenal, facilitated by the Center, finds that 22 additional documents were also delivered to the computer by the same attacker +++
In light of the discovery of malware used for evidence tampering, we continue to call for the immediate release of all #BhimaKoregaon defenders +++ Our preliminary report on the #BhimaKoregaon cases identified potential procedural irregularities and possible fair trial violations +++ / Read preliminary report (Oct 2019) here (PDF)

There Is No Case. Release the Bhima Koregaon 16 and Compensate Them

22/04/2021

The Wire / by Jignesh Mevani and Meena Kandasamy

A second report released on April 21, 2020 by Arsenal Computing contains more damning evidence of how files were planted on Rona Wilson’s computer.
It is a year since we jointly authored an op-ed denouncing the arrest of Professor Anand Teltumbde on Ambedkar Jayanti.
We highlighted the fact that his incarceration in the Bhima Koregaon case had less to do with any so-called conspiracy, and more to do with his Dalit-centred Marxist politics, which was seen as a direct threat to the corporate-Manuvadi government of Modi.
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Webinar: The Bhima-Koregaon case of imprisoned activists and India’s autocratic turn

Webinar: The Bhima-Koregaon case of imprisoned activists and India’s autocratic turn

By InSAF India

Ideas Behind Bars – The Bhima-Koregaon case of imprisoned activists and India’s autocratic turn
The webinar is part of InSAF India’s campaign demanding the release of all jailed scholars, students and civic activists in India.
24 April 2021
USA: 10:30am EDT / 9:30am CDT / 7:30am PDT
UK: 3:30pm BST / Europe: 4:30pm CEST / India: 8pm IST
REGISTER TO JOIN THE ZOOM WEBINAR HERE

Our panellists
+ Jed Crandall Associate Professor, Biodesign Center for Biocomputation, Security and Society and School of Computing, Informatics, and Decision Systems Engineering, Arizona State University, USA
+ Suchitra Vijayan Author of Midnight’s Borders: A People’s History of Modern India and Founder and Executive Director of The Polis Project
+ Tarunabh Khaitan Professor of Public Law and Legal Theory, and Vice Dean, Faculty of Law, Oxford University, UK
Moderated discussion to be followed by Q&A with the audience.

​This webinar aims to shed light on alarming authoritarian developments in India that have scarcely received adequate international attention. …

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Canada: Rally demanding Anand Teltumbde’s release held in Surrey

Canada: Rally demanding Anand Teltumbde’s release held in Surrey

Sabrangindia / by Sabrangindia

Teltumbde is DR. BR Ambedkar’s grandson-in-law and people came together outside Indian Visa and Passport Application Center.
Close to the first anniversary of the arrest of a renowned Indian scholar, members of Indians Abroad for Pluralist India (IAPI) held a demonstration in Surrey on Sunday, April 18.
Anand Teltumbde, a well-known author and columnist, was arrested last year on April 14 under trumped up charges for merely questioning the power and standing up for the poor and marginalized.
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Irish & Canadian Jesuits call for the release of Stan Swamy / Video: Campaigns calling for release continue

Irish & Canadian Jesuits call for the release of Stan Swamy / Video: Campaigns calling for release continue

Release Human Rights Defender Stan Swamy SJ

16/04/2021

Irish Jesuits International / by Irish Jesuits International

Fr Swamy is in poor health. He is hearing impaired and has Parkinson’s disease, and there have been calls from around the world – including from Pope Francis – to free him. He had been harrassed by authorities for some time and anticipated the likelihood of his arrest. He spoke about it in a video he made just two days before it occurred. But he is still in prison, and had his application for bail rejected on 22nd March 2021.
Jesuit Response
On hearing the news of the bail refusal, the Jesuits’ Social Justice and Ecology Secretariat (SJES) in Rome released a Statement of Solidarity in which Fr Xavier Jeyaraj SJ said:
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Canadian Jesuits call for the release of 83-year-old human rights defender

14/04/2021

Broadview / by Kiernan Green

Jesuits in Canada and around the world continue to call for the release of Father Stan Swamy, an 83-year-old Indian Jesuit and human rights defender charged and imprisoned under India’s anti-terror laws…
The Indian Jesuit father advocated for the land rights of the Indigenous people of eastern India for five decades. In 2018, he co-filed a public interest litigation on behalf of over 3,000 Adivasi villagers imprisoned without the due process of a timely trial.
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Video: Campaigns calling for release of India´s Father Stan Swamy continue

14/04/2021


en | 2:36min | 2021

By Rome Reports

This Rome Reports video above features efforts — including those made by the Jesuits — to free Indian Father Stan Swamy from prison.
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Jesuit Missions UK: Stand with Stan on his 84th birthday (April 26)

Jesuit Missions UK: Stand with Stan on his 84th birthday (April 26)

By Jesuit Missions UK

Fr Stan Swamy SJ celebrates his 84th birthday on 26 April. This year we want to let him know he is not forgotten.
Fr Stan Swamy SJ is an 83-year-old priest and human rights activist who has spent his life working for the poorest and most marginalised people in India. The Indian government has pursued a campaign of harassment against Fr Stan and other human rights activists in recent years …
Please join us in sending him a message of hope and solidarity this Easter. The card can be very simple or even a piece of folded paper.
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Indian courts and Medical Bail

Indian courts and Medical Bail

CJP / by Zahid Maniyar

The Special NIA court rejected Father Stan Swamy’s bail plea on grounds that “he was not only the member of banned organisation CPI (Maoist) but was also carrying out activities to further the objective of the organisation which is nothing but to overthrow the democracy of the nation.”
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More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

More Than 2,500 Activists, Academics, Others Issue Statement Demanding Stan Swamy’s Release

30/03/2021

The Wire / by The Wire Staff

“Stan Swamy is a symbol of the plight of thousands of undertrial prisoners who languish in jail for years under fabricated UAPA charges.”
A group of more than 2,500 people from India and abroad have issued a statement demanding the release of 84-year-old Stan Swamy, whose bail was rejected by a National Investigation Agency (NIA) court on March 22.
Swamy, an Adivasi rights activist, is one of the 16 academics, lawyers and activists arrested in the Elgar Parishad case. He was arrested in October last year and suffers from acute Parkinson’s disease along with several other age-related ailments. Swamy had sought bail on the grounds that the prosecution has failed to establish his involvement with the ongoing investigation.
Read more / read the full text of the statement and the list of signatories.

Endorse: Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy

28/03/2021

By various activists from Jharkhand

Please consider endorsing and circulating the attached statement against rejection of bail application of 84-year old Stan Swamy and appeal for his immediate bail. Endorsements (name, affiliation/organisation and place) should be sent before 8 am on Tuesday, 30 March 2021.

Appeal for Immediate Bail to 84-year Old Stan Swamy

We, the undersigned, are shocked by the rejection of a bail application filed by Stan Swamy in the Bhima Koregaon case by the special NIA (National Investigation Agency) court on 22 March 2021. He was arrested on 8 October 2021 and continues to languish in jail. …

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