A petition from the York Evening Press asking the Government to call for the release of a jailed aid worker in India has been presented at Westminster.

The Evening Press has collected almost 5,500 signatures, including that of editor Liz Page, supporting the “inspirational aid worker” Ian Stillman, who was convicted of possessing 20kg of cannabis in 2000.

York MP Hugh Bayley presented the paper’s petition to officials in the chamber of the House of Commons for it to be passed on to the Foreign Office for consideration by Jack Straw.

At Westminster Mr Bayley said: “This comes from the readers of the Yorkshire Evening Press, which ran a campaign pressing for Ian Stillman’s release.

“It notes that Ian Stillman is an inspirational aid worker who has given 27 years of his life to working with the deaf in India.

“It declares that he has been wrongfully imprisoned in India, and expresses concern that no provision was made for his own profound deafness at his trial – a fundamental abuse of his human rights.

“It also expresses great concern about his health and the fact that he has been denied appropriate treatment while in prison.”

In addition to his deafness, Ian has only one leg and chronic diabetes.

The trial was described as the “worst miscarriage of justice” ever seen by the Fair Trials Abroad organisation, which is representing him.

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