City throws weight behind campaign

Councillors unanimously voted to support the campaign at Monday's full council meeting.

Chief executive David Atkinson also pledged to write to the Indian High Commissioner to highlight the council's views.

Ian's father Roy, who lives in Tadcaster Road, York, said: "It is excellent news. The more people we have supporting this campaign the better, and we feel having the local authority on board is very important.

"We must say hats off to the Evening Press though, as initiatives such as these are ones we had not thought of until the Press became involved.

"Without the Press we feel the campaign may not have been at the advanced stage it is now."

Meanwhile, it appears Friday's meeting between Foreign Secretary Jack Straw and his Indian counterpart may not be as productive as Ian's relatives had hoped.

It had been thought a decision may have been taken on Government intervention before Mr Straw's trip to Delhi.

But a Foreign Office spokeswoman said there would definitely be no intervention made.

A clemency bid was among a number of options open to the Foreign Office, she said, but no decision had been made on that either.

She said: "We do not intervene. Ian Stillman's case will be raised, high profile consular cases are very important part of this visit, but it is certainly not the reason Mr Straw is going there."

Ian received ten years in jail last year after being found guilty of cannabis possession, a charge he has always denied.

As well as being totally deaf he is diabetic, and is also an amputee, having lost a leg in a road accident.

He was working with deaf people in India at the time of his arrest.

Thousands of Evening Press readers have signed the petition in support of his release, which can be found at our offices in York and Malton.

Multiple copies can be downloaded from our website, www.thisisyork.co.uk

Updated: 11:56 Wednesday, July 17, 2002