On Tuesday, the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights’ office in a statement said, “We are deeply saddened and disturbed by the death of 84-year-old Father Stan Swamy, a human rights defender, and Jesuit priest, in Mumbai yesterday, following his arrest in October 2020 under India’s Unlawful Activities (Prevention) Act (UAPA).”
The statement read that Father Stan had been held in pre-trial detention without bail since his arrest, charged with terrorism-related offenses in relation to demonstrations that date back to 2018. And that he was a long-standing activist, particularly on the rights of indigenous peoples and other marginalized groups.
While, the statement says, in Mumbai’s Taloja Central Jail, his health deteriorated, and he reportedly contracted COVID-19. His repeated applications for bail were rejected. He died as the Bombay High Court was considering an appeal against the rejection of his bail application, as stated in the statement.
It said that High Commissioner Michelle Bachelet and the UN’s independent experts have repeatedly raised the cases of Father Stan and 15 other human rights defenders associated with the same events with the Government of India over the past three years and urged their release from pre-trial detention.
Further, the High Commissioner has also raised concerns over the use of the UAPA in relation to human rights defenders; a law Father Stan was challenging before Indian courts days before he died.
It was stressed in the statement that in light of the continued, severe impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, it is even more urgent that States, including India, release every person detained without a sufficient legal basis, including those detained simply for expressing critical or dissenting views. This would be in line with the Indian judiciary’s calls to decongest the prisons.
Towards the end, the statement called upon the government of India to ensure that no one is detained for exercising fundamental rights. “We stress, once again, the High Commissioner’s call on the Government of India to ensure that no one is detained for exercising their fundamental rights to freedom of expression, of peaceful assembly, and of association,” said the statement.
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