LEADING deaf campaigners have joined the call for the release of charity worker Ian Stillman.

Ian, 51, is serving a ten-year jail sentence in India after being convicted of cannabis possession - a charge he has always denied.

But the father-of-two, whose parents live in York, was denied a fair trial because he has been profoundly deaf since childhood.

Now James Strachan, the chief executive of the Royal National Institute for the Deaf, and Jeff McWhinney, chief executive of the British Deaf Association, have joined the call for his release.

In a joint letter to a national newspaper, they said: "We urge the UK Government to support Ian Stillman's application for a presidential pardon.

"At every stage of the legal process, Ian has been unable to understand or respond to the allegations against him. No sign language interpretation was provided, either at his initial police interrogation or in court proceedings.

"In summing up, the Supreme Court judge who denied Ian leave to appeal stated that deaf and disabled people are widely known to be involved in drug trafficking."

Ian, who had a leg amputated following a road accident, moved to India nearly 30 years ago to set up a charity working with the country's deaf.

The Evening Press began to campaign for his release after hearing a leading human rights lawyer call his case "the worst miscarriage of justice I have dealt with."

Updated: 11:44 Tuesday, July 30, 2002