The evidence against Fr Stan Swamy SJ was planted, says forensics expert. Photo: Society of Jesus
Fr Erik Oland SJ, Provincial Superior of the Jesuits of Canada, today sent a letter to Foreign Affairs Minister Mélanie Joly urging her to ask the Indian government to clear the name of Fr Stan Swamy, an Indian Jesuit priest and renowned social justice advocate accused of terrorism, based on new evidence that he was framed.
Fr Swamy and 15 other human rights defenders were arrested in October 2020 under India’s archaic and harsh Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. Fr Swamy died of complications from Covid-19 in July 2021 after spending seven months in an Indian prison.
At the same time, Jenny Cafiso, Executive Director of Canadian Jesuits International (CJI), the international solidarity agency of the Jesuits of Canada, sent a letter to the High Commissioner of India to Canada, Sanjay Kumar Verma, also urging the Indian government to “clear Fr Stan of the false and unjust charges against him.”
Cafiso noted that an investigation conducted by Massachusetts-based Arsenal Consulting, an internationally renowned digital forensic firm, showed that Fr Swamy was “systematically targeted in a cyber campaign over a six-year period and fabricated evidence was planted on his computer to attack him and his co-defendants.”
Both letters were sent April 26, on what would have been Fr Swamy’s 86th birthday. The letters said that CJI has been encouraging Canadians to sign a global online petition initiated by Jesuit Missions UK, which calls on the Indian government to clear Fr Swamy’s name.
“In your Human Rights Day statement in 2022, you said that ‘Canada firmly believes that respect for democracy and its inherent values —the rule of law, the promotion and protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms, and equality—are shared by millions at home and abroad,’” said Fr Oland.
“Today, I am asking the Government of Canada to stand by these values by urging the Indian government to clear Fr Stan of the false and unjust charges against him.”
Clearing Fr Swamy ‘s name “is the just and right thing to do,” said Cafiso.
