Sister of Nick Dunn, one of men jailed for five years for carrying firearms while guarding commercial ship from pirates, urges Theresa May to intervene

The British government has “abandoned and betrayed” six former soldiers jailed in India for carrying firearms while protecting boats from pirates, the sister of one of the men has said.

The men, who were arrested in 2013, were among 35 crew members sentenced by an Indian court to five years in prison in January for carrying unlicensed firearms.

They were held while working for an anti-piracy security company protecting commercial ships off the coast of Africa in the Indian Ocean.

The men, who have been backed by more than 20 MPs including David Cameron, have consistently maintained their innocence and launched an appeal to overturn their sentences. A petition calling for their release has garnered 375,000 signatures.

Now the sister of Nick Dunn has urged Theresa May and the foreign secretary, Boris Johnson, to intervene in the case amid concerns that the men’s mental state is beginning to deteriorate.

“Nick’s always maintained that he feels abandoned and betrayed by the government and the country that he once served,” Lisa Dunn told the Guardian.



“Now we have a new government in place I would like to personally reach out to Theresa May, Boris Johnson and Sir Alan Duncan [a Foreign Office minister] and respectfully request that they continue to keep this case at the top of their agendas as we have been assured many times previously.

“There is overwhelming evidence that supports the men and proves that they were not involved in any wrongdoing. I plead with you all to help us in seeking the justice my brother and his colleagues deserve and overturning this travesty as quickly as possible to allow my brother and the men to finally return home.”

Dunn, from Ashington in Northumberland, said the British government had issued the licences for the weapons, including semi-automatic G3 assault rifles, which the Indian courts have claimed are automatic weapons and therefore prohibited.

Last month Edward Bell, the British government’s head of export controls, confirmed to the Indian court that Vince Cable, the then business secretary, granted licences for the firearms in 2012 and 2013.

Licences were issued for the export of hundreds of semi-automatic rifles, plus thousands of rounds of ammunition, from the UK weapons supplier Switchblade International to AdvanFort, the US company who had employed the men.

In a letter sent on 5 July 2015, seen by the Guardian, Bell said: “These export licences authorised the export of arms and other equipment, which included semi-automatic assault rifles, to AdvanFort.”

Cameron made a personal appeal last year to Narendra Modi, the Indian prime minister, on behalf of the Britons, who had served in Afghanistan and Iraq. The newly appointed minister for Asia, Alok Sharma, also raised the case with India’s external affairs ministry in July.



Dunn added: “I appreciate and understand that the government have spoken to various Indian counterparts over the last nearly three years, but for the evidence that’s there it’s beyond belief that our government haven’t pushed harder.



“They keep saying we’ve talked with this Indian counterpart, but it was apparent a long, long time ago that talking makes no difference to the Indian authorities. We need more robust action.”

The men’s prison conditions are said to be dire. Dunn said the men sleep on concrete in cells infested with snakes and rats, using a hole in the ground for a toilet.

Government officials pledged to try to push along the appeals process but a hearing last week was postponed at the last minute to the dismay of the mens’ families.



Dunn said: “This is what the British government promised that they would help with. They said to us that we will ensure that the appeals process is heard as quickly as possible and that delays don’t happen anymore. But immediately at the first hurdle the British government have failed again.

“The government know the guys are innocent but they’re not fighting hard enough and we don’t know why.”

Last week the men’s families went to Downing Street to deliver a petition signed by 375,000 people demanding their release. They have the support of Richard Phillips, who was portrayed by Tom Hanks in the film Captain Phillips which tells the story of the 2009 Maersk Alabama hijacking.

Aside from Nick Dunn, the other British men are Ray Tindall, from Chester; Billy Irving, from Connel, Argyll; Paul Towers, from Pocklington, east Yorkshire; John Armstrong, from Wigton, Cumbria; and Nicholas Simpson, from Catterick, North Yorkshire. Six of the 35-man crew are from Ukraine, 13 from Estonia and 10 are of Indian nationality.

AdvanFort has said that any arms and ammunition on the MV Seaman Guard Ohio were used solely to safeguard commercial ships against piracy in high-risk areas and were held legally.

Lisa Dunn said the men had each lost at least one and half stone in their first six months in prison and suffered dysentery when they first arrived. “It’s slowly starting to take its toll on them,” she said.

“It will be seven months tomorrow that they got put back in prison [having been released on bail] and it’s apparent from the reports we’re getting back that they’re really starting to struggle.”

The Rev Canon Ken Peters, a director at the Mission to Seafarers, a charity whose patron is the Queen, said that “yet again” the men protecting ships from piracy were under attack.

“The unwarranted detention of the crew of the MV Seaman Guard Ohio, in India, because of their possession of armaments used to defend against criminal violence, has dragged on for 1,000 days,” he said.

“There is still no end in sight for the judicial process which has been subjected to adjournment after adjournment, delay after delay. Whilst pirates roam free, the crew and guards are held in prison. This really is the wrong way round.”



A Foreign Office spokeswoman said: “Our staff in India and the UK remain in regular contact with all six men and are continuing to support them and their families, working to make sure their welfare is protected in prison.

“We recognise what a difficult time this is for those involved. We cannot interfere with India’s independent legal system, just as other countries cannot interfere with ours, but we will continue efforts to make sure this case is resolved swiftly. Ministers will continue to raise this case at the highest levels.”