Harpal Singh

[>Bikramjit Singh<]

Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals Rules That Harpal Singh is Not a Threat to National Security; Agrees With Sikh Coalition Position and Orders His Release from Custody

Coalition Defends the Reputation of Sikh-American Community

San Francisco, California, December 2, 2003 – The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the release yesterday of Harpal Singh. Harpal Singh had been in INS custody since 1997. The federal government sought his deportation to India on the grounds that he supported terrorist activity in India and therefore constituted a threat to U.S. national security.

The Sikh Coalition filed a brief as amicus curiae, a friend of the court, in support of Harpal Singh on September 20, 2002. The brief exclusively addressed the issue of whether the activities of Harpal Singh and his wife, Rajinder Kaur, constituted a threat to security of the United States. The Coalition intervened on Harpal Singh’s behalf to defend the reputation of the Sikh American community and to ensure that Harpal Singh would not be deported to India where, as the court agreed, he would face certain torture.

The decision carefully details the torture Harpal Singh endured while he was in India. It states that in January 1989, Harpal Singh was “stripped, bound, stretched repeatedly on a pulley, and finally subjected to a solid steel roller being rolled over his thighs….” In May or June 1989, the opinion states he was beaten and “his right leg [was] broken by police interrogators.” In February 1992, “the police applied electric currents to his tongue, lips, nostrils, and temples” and then he was “racked again by pulley.”

The Board of Immigration Appeals, which

had previously heard the case, also held that Harpal Singh would likely be tortured if he was sent to India. It, however, allowed his detention because it ruled that his alleged activities threaten U.S. national security.

Yesterday’s decision, ensures that not only will Harpal Singh not be sent back to India, but will also be released from INS detention. Harpal Singh was in INS custody for six years partly on the basis of secret evidence that the INS has refused to share with his counsel. On May 16, 2003, the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ordered the federal government to produce the secret evidence it used as the basis for its decision to detain Harpal Singh.

To read the decision go to: http://www.sikhcoalition.org/decision_harpal_singh.pdf

To read the Sikh Coalition’s amicus brief go to: http://www.sikhcoalition.org/amicus_brief_...arpal_singh.pdf

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Started as an effort to educate the greater North American community on Sikhs and Sikhism, the Sikh Coalition seeks to safeguard the civil and human rights of all citizens as well as to promote the Sikh identity and communicate the collective interests of Sikhs to civil society. The Coalition serves as a resource on Sikhs and Sikh concerns for governments, organizations and individuals.

For more information on the Coalition or to learn of ways you can help please visit www.sikhcoalition.org, email info@sikhcoalition.org, or write to: The Sikh Coalition, P.O. Box 7132, New York, NY 10150-7132. To make a direct donation to the Coalition today please mail a check payable to “The Sikh Coalition” or click on the image below:

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Court orders jailed Sikh activist freed

He funded foreign terrorists, but wasn't deemed dangerous

Bob Egelko, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, December 3, 2003

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In the first ruling of its kind, a federal appeals court in San Francisco has ordered immigration officials to release a Bay Area Sikh activist who has been held for six years in jails for aiding terrorists overseas.

Immigration officials never tried to deport Harpal Singh Cheema to his native India - where, according to court records, he has been repeatedly arrested and tortured - but kept him locked up because he helped raise money for Sikh militants.

The U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco ruled Monday that a noncitizen's financial support of foreign terrorists does not automatically make one a danger to U.S. national security. Since the government offered no evidence that Cheema was actually dangerous, he must be released from jail, cannot be deported and is eligible for political asylum, the court said.

"It is by no means self-evident that a person engaged in extra- territorial or resistance activities - even militant activities - is necessarily a threat to the security of the United States,'' wrote Judge John Noonan in the 2-1 ruling. "One country's terrorist can often be another country's freedom fighter.''

He cited a wide range of historical examples: support by U.S. citizens for 19th century European revolutionaries and 20th century anti-Communist leaders, congressional support for Nelson Mandela's release from prison in

South Africa and U.S. government backing for the Nicaraguan Contras in the 1980s.

The court also barred the deportation of Cheema's wife, Rajwinder Kaur, who lives in Fremont and was accused by U.S. immigration officials of aiding terrorist groups. She has not been jailed, the couple's attorney, Robert Jobe, said Tuesday.

"I've never seen another case where a court overturned a governmental finding that an alien is a danger to national security,'' said Jobe, a longtime immigration lawyer. "The most significant thing is that the court got involved at all. The government has been arguing that their decision was unreviewable. . . . They were going to hold him forever.''

He said Cheema, who applied for asylum when he entered the United States with his wife in 1993, had been held in various federal immigration jails in California since November 1997.

The court said Cheema, a lawyer, had been arrested and beaten by police in India in 1987 after organizing a protest rally. He became a leader in the Sikh independence movement and was tortured three more times in the next five years by police who stretched his body over a pulley, broke his leg and subjected him to electric shocks and a mock execution, the court said.

Cheema said his political activities were on behalf of nonviolent groups and human rights activists, but he admitted putting potential donors in touch with a Sikh militant leader, Daljit Singh Bittu, who was based in Pakistan and wanted by the Indian government. He also admitted communicating with the leader of another militant group in 1995 and helping the leader's wife escape India.

A U.S. immigration board said Cheema had aided terrorist activity, and the court accepted that conclusion. Nevertheless, the court said, Cheema is entitled to remain in the United States - since he would face persecution and torture if deported - and cannot be imprisoned unless the government provides evidence that he threatens national se

curity.

Dissenting Judge Johnnie Rawlinson recited violent acts attributed to the militant groups Cheema had aided and said they justified his detention.

"A finding that Cheema provided material support to major international terrorists . . . substantiates the (immigration board's) finding that Cheema and his wife threaten the security of this country,'' Rawlinson said. "Our country should not become a haven for those who desire to foment international strife from our shores.''