UN experts urge India to release rights defender Dr. G.N. Saibaba on health grounds

GENEVA (28 June 2018) – UN rights experts* are urging India to release human rights defender Dr. G.N. Saibaba, a wheelchair user with severe disabilities whose health is deteriorating and who is reportedly being held in solitary confinement.

“We are concerned about reports that Dr. Saibaba is suffering from more than 15 different health problems, some of which have potentially fatal consequences,” the experts said in a joint statement released in Geneva.

Dr. Saibaba’s health is progressively and severely deteriorating because of poor jail conditions and untrained staff unable to adequately assist prisoners with disabilities. “He is now in urgent need of adequate medical treatment,” the experts added.

“We would like to remind India that any denial of reasonable accommodation for people with disabilities in detention is not only discriminatory but may well amount to ill-treatment or even torture. In particular, solitary confinement should be prohibited when the conditions of prisoners with disabilities would be made worse by this measure,” the experts stressed.

Dr. Saibaba is a long-standing defender of the rights of various minorities in India against corporate interests. He was arrested in 2014 and sentenced to life imprisonment in 2017. He is reportedly now being held in solitary confinement in a highly insanitary cell in Nagpur jail, in darkness and with inadequate and inaccessible facilities.

The Special Rapporteurs are calling on the Indian authorities to immediately ensure that Dr. Saibaba has continuous and unrestricted access to health care, including adequate treatment and rehabilitation.

They are also urging the State to effectively guarantee that all human rights defenders in India are able to conduct their legitimate work without fear of threats or exposure to any act of intimidation or reprisals.

In March 2017, Dr. Saibaba was sentenced to life imprisonment for “waging war against the state”, amongst other charges. The judgment allegedly failed to point out a single instance in which Dr. Saibaba was a conspirator to commit violence or provide logistical support to violent acts.

ENDS

*The UN experts: Catalina Devandas, Special Rapporteur on the rights of persons with disabilities; Michel Forst, Special Rapporteur on the situation of human rights defenders; Dainius Pūras, Special Rapporteur on the right of everyone to the enjoyment of the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health; and Nils Melzer, Special Rapporteur on torture and other cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment or punishment.

The Special Rapporteurs are part of what is known as the Special Procedures of the Human Rights Council. Special Procedures, the largest body of independent experts in the UN Human Rights system, is the general name of the Council’s independent fact-finding and monitoring mechanisms that address either specific country situations or thematic issues in all parts of the world. Special Procedures experts work on a voluntary basis; they are not UN staff and do not receive a salary for their work. They are independent from any government or organization and serve in their individual capacity.

UN Human Rights, country page – India

For more information and media requests, please contact:Lucía de la Sierra (+41 22 917 9741) or write to ldelasierra@ohchr.org

For media inquiries related to other UN independent experts:Jeremy Laurence – Media Unit (+41 22 917 9383 / jlaurence@ohchr.org) 

This year is the 70th anniversary of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, adopted by the UN on 10 December 1948. The Universal Declaration – translated into a world record 500 languages – is rooted in the principle that “all human beings are born free and equal in dignity and rights.” It remains relevant to everyone, every day. In honour of the 70th anniversary of this extraordinarily influential document, and to prevent its vital principles from being eroded, we are urging people everywhere to Stand Up for Human Rights: http://www.standup4humanrights.org/en/