In December 1986 Satpal Ram was involved in an argument with a racist in an Indian restaurant in Birmingham. The man then attacked Satpal, who defended himself, killing his aggressor in self-defence. Following a heavily biased trial, he was found guilty of murder and sentenced to life imprisonment.
For the next 16 years he campaigned vigorously for his freedom. In October 2000 the Parole Board was forced by public pressure to recognise that Satpal should be released. This was then over-ruled by the Home Secretary, Jack Straw, and Satpal remained in prison until 18 June this year, when he was finally freed.
FRFI has known and supported Satpal since 1994. We are delighted he has been released and are pleased to publish this interview with him.
FRFI: You fought for years to prove your innocence and to win your freedom, but when you were actually released from prison, it came about in a strange sort of way. Can you tell us about it?
My release came about as a result of a European Court ruling in the case of Denis Stafford. Stafford was a life sentence prisoner, who had been granted parole by the Parole Board. That decision was rejected by the then Secretary of State. Stafford took his case to the European Court, which ruled that the Home Secretary had acted unlawfully, and was effectively undermining the role of the Parole Board. Why have an independent body, if a politician could over-rule that decision?
Following that judgment, my solicitors lodged papers with the High Court for an immediate hearing. They said that as a result of the Stafford ruling, I had been held in prison unlawfully since October 2000, when the Parole Board said I should be released. That recommendation by the Parole Board was rejected by the then Home Secretary, Jack Straw, motivated purely by racist political reasons. This was then deliberately and deceitfully suppressed by the Minister of Prisons, Paul Boateng, who had me moved to a lower security prison as though he was doing me a favour.
So, when the Stafford judgment was announced, we were already waiting for a judicial review of Straw’s decision to be heard. So, my legal representatives called the High Court, saying I should have an immediate hearing. One hour after their call, the Treasury Solicitors conceded that, as a result of the Stafford ruling, I was in effect unlawfully imprisoned, that they would not be contesting the judicial review, and that they would release me within the next 48 hours. This was the time they said was needed to process the paperwork.
We heard that on the Wednesday. On the Thursday there was no news. On the Friday we were told that the papers had gone before the Lord Chief Justice, who had endorsed the decision to release me, and that it only required one more signature – and that was from David Blunkett. Gareth Pierce, my solicitor, suggested that they place the papers in front of the Prisons Minister, but she was told that Blunkett wanted to deal with it himself. We were then told that the papers could not be put in front of Blunkett until the Monday, because of the weekend. So we waited all weekend.
On the Monday they told us that the Minister was busy but that it would be dealt with that night and I would have my release papers first thing the next morning. So, lo and behold, six o’clock the following morning I got up, packed my possessions ready for this big day – nothing happened. Seven o’clock came, nothing happened, eight o’clock came, nothing happened, about half past eight I rang Gareth. Fortunately, I had my mobile phone in my pocket, which I’d smuggled through, and I was able to liaise with her constantly, and there were a few comical moments during the day when the phone rattled in my pocket because it was on silent alert, and I was talking to the governor and couldn’t answer it!
So they said ten o’clock. Ten o’clock came and they said 11 o’clock. Eleven o’clock came, they said 12 o’clock; 12 o’clock came they said two o’clock. Two o’clock came, they said three o’clock. At about half three Gareth rang them and said it was completely unacceptable and that she was now lodging a bail application in the High Court. The Treasury Solicitors said they were opposing bail. So, the most senior judge in the country, the Lord Chief Justice, had endorsed my release; the Treasury Solicitors had already conceded that I was in prison unlawfully, as a result of the Stafford ruling, and they were opposing bail! So, Gareth faxed through the paperwork to the High Court and made the bail application over the phone. As that application was getting processed, the Treasury Solicitors and the Home Office rang through to say that my release licence had now been countersigned by the Home Secretary. I’d been waiting since seven o’clock in the morning and at seven o’clock at night I was released. My friends from Asian Dub Foundation had been waiting for me from morning until night and they wouldn’t leave the prison. And the media had been parked outside the prison for two days. First day was a heatwave, so they cooked in their cars. Second day was pissing down with rain. When I got released they’d all gone for a bite to eat, so we just jumped in the car and drove to London!
So will you now continue to try and overturn your conviction? The Criminal Cases Review Commission has already rejected one application to have your case referred back to the Court of Appeal. Will you and your lawyers keep on at them?
Yes. Firstly, I’ve got an action coming up in the High Court for damages for unlawful imprisonment. But the CCRC has been sitting on my case for the last five years now. During that time, they’ve not interviewed any witnesses. Surely that undermines their role as an independent review body. Basically, they’ve hindered me at every stage. Nothing has changed since I’ve been released. And I’d ask everybody who has supported me over the years to continue inundating them with phone calls, letters, faxes, emails, to keep the pressure on. The only way I’m going to get a referral back to the Court of Appeal is through outside political pressure. That’s the only way my situation will change. It’s the only way I got released.
How were you treated in prison?
Prison for me has been the ultimate test in endurance. I spent 16 years in custody. During that time I was transferred on 74 separate occasions. I spent something like over six years in solitary. As to how I feel now, I am angry at my treatment. The prison system needs more public accountability to regulate and keep check on those prison officers and the prison authorities who continue to abuse and maltreat other prisoners who are in a similar situation to myself.
My treatment was not unique. Numerous other people are still in a similar situation, and I could name many of them who have been segregated for years on end. What they need is outside support. That’s what kept me going. I was fortunate in that respect. I had an international campaign. I had a lot of people who used to visit me – you, for one! I had a lot of people who helped carry me through and that made a real difference at the end of the day. That and a belief that the system could not sustain the lie for ever.
You read a lot in prison, and you read a lot of political books. What’s the best book you read?
Yes, I did read a lot. Reading is very important to keep your mind active. A lot of people who leave prison after lengthy sentences are so badly damaged beyond repair that they can’t function as human beings in normal society, so it’s very important to keep your mind active.
Prior to coming to prison, if anyone had offered me a book, I would probably have thrown it in the bin, but suddenly I was faced with this situation where I was getting all sorts of legal correspondence, so I got a little Oxford dictionary and I carried it everywhere with me. And I had to start looking up words, and language is a very powerful tool if you know how to use it. And that’s why the system perceived me to be a threat, because if you can articulate a sentence, they fear that more than anything else. Violence, they’re trained to deal with, but if you can hold your own in a debate, then they won’t like it, because most screws are only semi-literate.
The best book I read was undoubtedly Soledad Brother by George Jackson. I’ve brought it out with me. I’ve also got Blood in my eye, which you sent me. I’ve got a few books which I brought out with me, and I intend to expand on my library in the next few weeks!
So do you have any message for the people who are still inside?
To my friends and to everybody I have left behind, I would say: ‘Never give up hope’. Solidarity is very important. The system rules the world over through divide and rule and what people have got to understand is that they’ve got to stop having tunnel vision, they’ve got to look at the wider picture, and that’s the only way we can change conditions within the system.
FRFI 168 August / September 2002
