Dear Everyone,

Happy New Year to you all. Ian, Sue, Lennie and Anita and more than 20 of the extended family spent three days celebrating Christmas together! It was a wonderful time – we really rejoice Ian’s release came when it did.

Now life is starting to return to ‘normal.’ For Ian and Sue the long-term questions include where to be based, how to direct and resource the work among the deaf in India (without Ian being able to go there), whether to address how the disabled are treated in courts, how to pursue the creative ideas Ian had in prison. and to balance all these with the needs of the family and Ian’s medical priorities.

At the moment they are staying with family in Hampshire adjusting to a different pace of life and the cold climate! Ian has found it difficult to sleep due to pain in his amputated leg but new painkillers seem to be helping. He and Sue are impatient to meet up with friends but for the moment the medical situation, family adjustments and catching up on the last 2 years must take priority – so many apologies if they don’t seem very available for great socialising just yet.

There has been a lot of media coverage since Ian’s release including an interview on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, a full page in the Daily Telegraph, and several Indian papers. We aim to put links on the website <http://www.ianstillman.fsnet.co.uk> soon.

A practical point. Ian and Sue are urgently considering where to be based, initially for six months and then for a couple of years. To be near family they are looking at two areas – Leeds/York and Hampshire – but so far with little success. It occurred to us that sometimes houses are available privately – in between moves, owners abroad, owned by churches or charities, out-of-season lets. – so we thought it worth asking if anyone knows of a comfortable 3 bedroom house in those areas at a reasonable price. Please let Ian know on as soon as possible – many thanks.

It is wonderful to be dealing with such issues rather than campaigning still for Ian’s freedom. Thank you as always for your encouragement and support.

With best wishes

Brendan Bowles for Friends of Ian Stillman

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NEW READERS START HERE: Ian Stillman has been a world-renowned aid pioneer among the deaf in India for 27 years. He himself is totally deaf, and also an amputee. Ian was jailed in North India in August 2000 after police claimed to find drugs in a public taxi in which he was a passenger. Ian denies all knowledge of any drugs. Ian was excluded from his own trial – refused a deaf interpreter and a Hindi translator. For months he was held in cramped, insanitory conditions without medical care. The local police insist he is a wanted criminal hunted by Interpol for 30 years. Interpol and the UK Government officially deny this.The High Court in Himachal Pradesh decided that Ian is “not deaf” and rejected his appeal. On the same grounds he was refused leave to appeal to the Supreme Court in Delhi. He was freed on 7 December 2002 by the President of India on ‘health grounds’ after a widespread international campaign. Thank you for your support.

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