‘UK abandoned, betrayed 6 soldiers jailed in India’

The sister of one of Britain’s six former soldiers jailed in India for carrying unlicensed arms on a ship for anti-piracy security sought the intervention of British Prime Minister Theresa May on Sunday, saying the UK government has “abandoned and betrayed” them.

Lisa Dunn, the sister of Nick Dunn, expressed concerns that the men’s mental state is beginning to deteriorate and called for action to secure their release.

“Nick’s always maintained that he feels abandoned and betrayed by the government and the country that he once served,” she told the Guardian.

“Now we have a new government in place I would like to personally reach out to Theresa May, Boris Johnson (foreign secretary) and Sir Alan Duncan (a minister in the foreign office) and respectfully request that they continue to keep this case at the top of their agendas as we have been assured many times previously,” she said.

The men were arrested in 2013 among 35 crew members and sentenced by a Tamil Nadu court to five years in prison in January 2016 for carrying unlicensed firearms.

They were held while working for an anti-piracy security company protecting commercial ships off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.

The men, who have been backed by more than 20 British MPs, including former British PM David Cameron, have consistently maintained their innocence and launched an appeal to overturn their sentences.

A petition calling for their release has garnered 375,000 signatures and was delivered their families to Downing Street last week.

Lisa claimed the British government had issued the licenses for the weapons, including semi-automatic G3 assault rifles, which the Indian courts have said are automatic weapons and therefore prohibited.