Wrongful conviction of Dr Binayak Sen

Dr Binayak Sen is an Indian paediatrician who has been wrongfully sentenced to life imprisonment, after being charged with sedition and "aiding Maoist activities". Dr Sen is a health activist who has dedicated his life to promoting the rights of tribal peoples. PHM Oz is protesting his imprisonment.

Read the letter to Kevin Rudd from Fran Baum and David Legge on behalf of PHM Oz, requesting him to appeal to the Indian government to release Dr Sen.

Background

Dr Binayak Sen is a public health hero in India, winner of the Jonathan Mann Award for Human Rights and nominee for the Right Livelihood Award. He is now in gaol, sentenced to life in prison.

Listen to Norman Swan's interview with Binayak Sen on Radio National, from 31 January 2011.

See the profile by the BBC from May 2008

For a moving account of the significance Binayak Sen’s conviction and sentence see the letter from Professor Shiv Viswanathan, eminent Indian social scientist to the India PM.

For more about Binayak Sen see the Wikipedia piece

On the 17th Dec 2010 Dr Sen was convicted of sedition by a Chhattisgarh court and sentenced to life in prison.

This is an outrageous injustice. Unjust to the tribals who Binayak Sen defends. Unjust in terms of the dubious evidence on which the conviction is based. Unjust in terms of the sentence. See the ‘facts of the case’ published by the Times of India. For more detail on some of the dubious evidence used to convict him see The Hindu.

See the statement from Amnesty International on 25 December 2010.

Participate in the international campaign

Keep in touch with the Indian campaign to free Binayak Sen