After six years in jail Britain's longest serving detainee waits to hear his fate
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Your support makes all the difference.A Sikh separatist, who has been held in jail for the last six years pending deportation, will hear today whether the European Court of Human Rights is to clear the way for his release.
A ruling by the Strasbourg court in favour of Karamjit Singh Chahal, who has been in Bedford jail since August 1990 pending deportation to India on grounds of national security, could entitle him to compensation of up to pounds 200,000.
The long-awaited decision follows a unanimous opinion by all 17 members of the European Commission on Human Rights condemning his treatment by the UK.
Mr Chahal, who was given indefinite leave to live in Britain in 1974, has acknowledged his role as a supporter of a separate Sikh state in the Punjab but has always denied terrorist activity.
The Government has accused him of masterminding and financing terrorism in India, but has never produced the evidence. In the 1980s, he was arrested three times and charged twice - but evidence in both the cases against him was later discredited.
Mr Chahal claimed asylum when he was first threatened with deportation in 1990. On a visit to Amritsar in 1984, he was one of a mass arrest of Sikhs by local police. He says his treatment left him with scars all over his body and permanently deaf in one ear and he fears he will be killed if he is made to return to India.
Because his case involved "national security", the only opportunity he has had to fight deportation in Britain was an appearance before the Government's security advisers, without legal representation, sight of the evidence or chance to cross-examine witnesses.
The EC advised the court that the UK had breached four of the guarantees in the European Convention of Human Rights: the right not to be subjected to inhuman and degrading treatment, the right not to be unlawfully detained, the right to family life and the right to an effective legal remedy.
If the case goes against the Government today, it will be under an obligation to introduce a proper hearing for intended deportees who are accused of terrorism, and allow legal representation.
The question of compensation will also loom. Under UK law, Mr Chahal might expect to receive around pounds 95 for each day of any wrongful detention, although the final amount of any award would be for the Strasbourg court to decide.
One of Mr Chahal's most persistent complaints has been the effect of his detention on his family life. His wife, Darshan, visits him daily in jail but his daugher, Kiranpreet, and son, Bikaramjit, spent their teenage years with their father in prison.
David Burgess, his solicitor, said: "We hope for an outcome which will enable Mr Chahal to start on the formidable task of rebuilding his family life."
Defeat would be particularly embarrassing for the Government because of the degree to which accepted legal process has been suspended, coupled with the sheer length of Mr Chahal's detention on untested evidence.
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