Anger mounting over planned death sentence of Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana

Anger is growing among the Sikh community in the West Midlands at a planned execution due to take place in India tomorrow.

Sikhs around the world are protesting at what will be the first state execution in the country since 2004. Bhai Balwant Singh Rajoana will be hanged for the assassination of the former chief minister, Beant Singh, outside the Punjab secretariat in 1995. He has already been in prison for 17 years for his role in the murder.

Sikhs wearing orange turbans have been protesting against the decision.

Orange scarves were tied around lamp posts in Smethwick and thousands protested in the West Midlands on Wednesday.

Around 200 people marched from the Baba Deep Singh Gurdwara temple on Soho Road, Handsworth, up to the Indian Embassy in the Jewellery Quarter, Birmingham.

Demonstrators were dressed in orange, which represents courage and wisdom, and wore T-shirts supporting calls for the death penalty not to be enacted.

Throughout the UK, people have appealed to the Foreign Secretary William Hague to raise the matter with Amnesty International and in Parliament.

A spokesman from the Guru Nanak Gurdwara in Smethwick said: "In recent years Amnesty International has welcomed the lack of executions in India, with the last one taking place in 2004, but expressed its concern that at least 50 death sentences are passed each year by the Indian courts.

"India is signalling to the world that when it comes to Sikh prisoners it is prepared to break the moratorium and reverse the trend to abolish the death penalty.

"Many in the Sikh community feel the Indian authorities are blatantly targeting Sikhs.

"Sikhs in the UK have appealed to the foreign secretary to bring this matter up with Amnesty International and the House of Commons.

"Other Sikhs across the globe have also appealed to the state governments regarding the hanging."