Dear Mr Johnson,

I write this as I wait for my flight at Chennai Airport. My son, John Armstrong, is in Puzhal Prison having served 20 months of a five-year sentence. I have visited him in prison four times and each time it gets harder to come away and leave him there. As a mother it is unnatural and against every one of my instincts to turn my back and walk out of that prison, leaving my son to fend for himself in a prison over 8,000 miles away from home. I feel devastated.

John is one of the Chennai 6, one of 35 men wrongly arrested in 2013 and unable to leave India since. I know that the government say they cannot intervene in the legal process of another country but we have been told that they can help speed up the process. I feel bitterly disappointed and very let down that even that has not happened. John remains in prison after wrongful arrest and we feel abandoned.

He has resigned himself to the fact that he will have to serve the full 5 year sentence, despite an appeal pending before the High Court. He is only 29 and is missing out on a huge chunk of his young life which can never be replaced. Surely, at some point soon justice must prevail, but even if it does, justice delayed is justice denied.

John has been very badly treated whilst in prison and was taken to the Institute of Mental Health under false pretences, punched, choked and medicated against his will. John submitted an official complaint about this but has heard nothing more. I feel as though no one cares that this happened to him.

Luckily, John is a very strong and resilient individual and even managed to smile and wave after our last visit. I cannot get the picture of him out of my mind. It is heartbreaking. All he wants is his freedom and as an innocent man, why shouldn't he have it?

During my visit, John was mentioning that he would love to go for a swim. This is only one of the many things denied him which include basic human rights and requirements such as lack of clean water, insufficient and unsuitable food, lack of means to keep cool in the overpowering heat, communication with the outside world by anything other than letter and adequate medical care.

All our family are extremely proud of the way John has conducted himself under such very difficult circumstances. None of us know how we would react if subject to such injustice over such a prolonged period of time. I think he would put us all to shame. It is an unacceptable situation when it is clearly so very wrong and, as far as I can gather, everyone knows that the men are innocent.

I implore you to help.

I am writing this letter feeling that all I am doing is expressing my feelings and that none of you will take any notice. In a country where we have democratic elections and vote for the people we have faith in, this surely makes a mockery of the whole process.

In my opinion the more power a person has, the more ashamed of this situation they should be.

Yours faithfully,

Helen Armstrong

Mother of John Armstrong