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Family of a city-based businessman Roshan Jamal Khan, convicted for his alleged links with terror organisations by a Spanish court, on Tuesday claimed the Centre is neglecting them because they are Muslims.
"Just because we are Muslims, the Indian government is neglecting us. My brother has been languishing in a jail in Spain since two years and nothing is being done," said Roshan's brother Mehboob Khan.
A special anti-terrorism court in Spain sentenced Roshan to eight and a half years imprisonment for being part of the group which planned terror attacks in Barcelona. Mehboob said Roshan has been falsely implicated in the case and he has been convicted based solely on the testimony of a co-accused.
"We have appealed time and again to the Indian government to approach the authorities in Spain and find out on the basis of what evidence Roshan was convicted," he said.
If the evidence is made public and it proves that Roshan is guilty then we will keep quiet and accept it, Mehboob said. Roshan has filed an appeal challenging his conviction, which may come up for hearing in January 2010.
Roshan was on a business trip to Spain on a three-month visa when he was arrested from a mosque in Barcelona with ten others on January 19 last year.
"Surprisingly, the court has convicted Roshan and the other accused only for being part of terror group, but has acquitted them on the charges of conspiring to carry out an attack on Barcelona's subway system," said family advocate Parvez Ubhare.
According to the authorities in Spain, between 2007 and 2008, the eleven arrested accused decided to follow Jihad advocated by Taliban leader Baitullah Mehsud and planned to carry out attacks on Barcelona's subway system.
"The court convicted the accused, relying on the statement of a police informant, whose identity was protected. He testified that he was selected by the group to be a suicide bomber," Mehboob said. Parvez however alleged that the witness worked for the France Secret Services.
"The flares recovered in the case were made in France. There are unidentified fingerprints on the flares. However the authorities did not compare it with the fingerprints of the protected witness," Parvez said.
Roshan's family, comprising his wife, four sons and two daughters, who live in suburban Jogeshwari, are in a state of shock, Mehboob said.