Ian Stillman has worked with the deaf in India for 27 years. He himself is totally deaf, and also an amputee. Ian was jailed in North India in August 2000 after police said they found drugs in the taxi he was travelling in. Ian denies all knowledge of the drugs.
For months he was held in cramped, insanitary conditions without medical care. He told us that people slept shoulder to shoulder and were treated worse than animals.
In January of 2002 the High Court in Himachal Pradesh decided that Ian is not deaf and so rejected his appeal. On 6 May the Supreme Court refused Ian leave to appeal.
But his family refused to believe that he was guilty and after a long campaign, which attracted world-wide support, Ian was let out of prison on the 7th of December and he and his son Lennie arrived in Britain a week later.
Ian was freed on compassionate grounds - but has not been granted a pardon. He is going to stay in Britain while he receives medical attention - and will continue to work to clear his name from here. Once he is well enough, Ian hopes to re-join his wife Sue in India to continue their work with the deaf.
Our reporter Zubeida Malik met up with Ian Stillman and his wife Sue just before Christmas for what was the couple's first national broadcast interview since his release. You can read a transcript of the interview by
clicking here.
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Ian Stillman greets his family at Heathrow airpot after being released from prison.
Ian and Sue Stillman.
The Prison in North India where Ian Stillman was held.
