Ian Stillman
Encyclopedia
Ian Stillman is a British charity worker and missionary from Reading, Berkshire
, in the United Kingdom
whose imprisonment and subsequent release from prison in India
garnered media attention. Together with his wife Yesumani he founded the Nambikkai Foundation.
Stillman's mission was sponsored by the Carey Baptist Church
.
Stillman attended Crosfields School
in Reading and then Leighton Park School
.
According to the BBC
, Stillman, "a deaf charity worker who has lived in India for nearly 30 years, was arrested (in 2001) after cannabis
was found in a taxi he had hired."
Stillman's attorney's claimed that Stillman, who is deaf and well-known in India for his charitable work with the deaf, was the victim of "a gross miscarriage of justice." Stephen Jakobi of the advocacy organization Fair Trials International
told the press that "It is the most horrific case I've ever seen of an innocent man being done down by law."
The United Kingdom Council on Deafness collected tens of thousands of signatures on a petition to the Indian government asking for Stillman's release.
He was released following successful intervention by Prime Minister Tony Blair
and the Foreign Secretary.
Reading, Berkshire
Reading is a large town and unitary authority area in England. It is located in the Thames Valley at the confluence of the River Thames and River Kennet, and on both the Great Western Main Line railway and the M4 motorway, some west of London....
, in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
whose imprisonment and subsequent release from prison in India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
garnered media attention. Together with his wife Yesumani he founded the Nambikkai Foundation.
Stillman's mission was sponsored by the Carey Baptist Church
Carey Baptist Church
Carey Baptist Church is an independent evangelical/baptist church in Reading, England.-History:The church was founded in 1867 and was named after William Carey, a famous missionary from Northamptonshire, who went to India in 1793, and never returned to his homeland.Notable past pastors include Rev...
.
Stillman attended Crosfields School
Crosfields School
Crosfields School, commonly and colloquially known as Crosfields and initialised XF is an interdenominational preparatory day school on Shinfield Road in the civil parish of Shinfield, near the border of the boroughs of Reading and Wokingham in the English county of Berkshire.Established in 1957...
in Reading and then Leighton Park School
Leighton Park School
Leighton Park School is a co-educational Quaker independent school for both day and boarding pupils. It is situated in the large town of Reading in Berkshire, in South East England...
.
According to the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
, Stillman, "a deaf charity worker who has lived in India for nearly 30 years, was arrested (in 2001) after cannabis
Cannabis
Cannabis is a genus of flowering plants that includes three putative species, Cannabis sativa, Cannabis indica, and Cannabis ruderalis. These three taxa are indigenous to Central Asia, and South Asia. Cannabis has long been used for fibre , for seed and seed oils, for medicinal purposes, and as a...
was found in a taxi he had hired."
Stillman's attorney's claimed that Stillman, who is deaf and well-known in India for his charitable work with the deaf, was the victim of "a gross miscarriage of justice." Stephen Jakobi of the advocacy organization Fair Trials International
Fair Trials International
Fair Trials International is a UK-registered non-governmental organization which works for fair trials according to international standards of justice and defends the rights of those facing charges in a country other than their own....
told the press that "It is the most horrific case I've ever seen of an innocent man being done down by law."
The United Kingdom Council on Deafness collected tens of thousands of signatures on a petition to the Indian government asking for Stillman's release.
He was released following successful intervention by Prime Minister Tony Blair
Tony Blair
Anthony Charles Lynton Blair is a former British Labour Party politician who served as the Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 2 May 1997 to 27 June 2007. He was the Member of Parliament for Sedgefield from 1983 to 2007 and Leader of the Labour Party from 1994 to 2007...
and the Foreign Secretary.
Interview
- "Free at last! Jonathan Stephen interviews Ian Stillman for EN," Evangelical Now, March 2003. http://www.e-n.org.uk/p-2103-Free-at-last.htm