THE family of deaf charity worker Ian Stillman has given permission for the Foreign Office to ask the Indian Government for his release.

Foreign Office Minister Baroness Amos came under pressure this week over the Government's handling of Ian's case.

But she said: "We support pleas for clemency and on pardons ... if there is prima facie evidence of a miscarriage of justice.

"We also support pleas on health grounds if a prisoner is chronically ill or where continued incarceration would endanger or reduce life expectancy.

"But, in order to do that, we need a decision from the family and from the individual."

Ian, 51, whose parents live in Tadcaster Road, York, and who had a leg amputated after a road accident, is serving a ten-year prison sentence in India for possession of cannabis - a charge he has always denied.

His brother-in-law Jerry Dugdale said: "Apparently, before the Government can intervene, they have to get legal advice on the case from a panel of lawyers approved by them.

"We don't use a lawyer from this panel, but it isn't us seeking advice, it's them. They shouldn't need our permission to seek advice but, if they do, they have it.

"The Government has our permission to intervene."

Political pressure on the Indian Government appears to be the only way forward for Ian's case after a Supreme Court judge refused to hear his appeal.

Amazingly, he ruled that Ian was not deaf but merely hard of hearing.

Ian had been trying to argue that his trial was unfair after he was denied a sign language translator, effectively stopping him from taking any part in it.

Ian has been profoundly deaf since childhood but, because he can speak, the Indian authorities find that hard to believe. In India, deaf people are almost always dumb as well.

A strong Christian and father of two, Ian had moved to India 27 years ago and set up a charity working to teach independence skills to the country's deaf.

He has recently been diagnosed as diabetic, and is suffering from severe circulation problems.

His wife Sue told the Evening Press recently that she feared he would die in prison.

Mr Dugdale said: "The legal process is now over and Ian's chances for freedom depend on the level of support that the Government is going to give.

"I want the Government to come to the conclusion that there has been a miscarriage of justice, and I don't think it would be too difficult to come to that. If they need our permission, then they have it.

"In its own mission statement, the Foreign Office says it will intervene if there are serious grounds for a miscarriage of justice, and they have been dragging their feet to commit themselves on that point.

"We have given them the go-ahead."

Updated: 11:51 Thursday, May 23, 2002