No early release for Dutch man imprisoned in U.S. for 39 years

Dutchman Jaitsen Singh, who has been imprisoned in the United States for 39 years, will not get early release, his lawyer Rachel Imamkhan told Parool after the 78-year-old man’s parole hearing in California on Thursday.

Singh has been in prison since 1984. An American court sentenced him to 56 years in prison for hiring a hitman to kill his wife and daughter. Singh denies any involvement in the double murder. There have also been doubts about the validity of his conviction after it emerged that a statement based on which the court convicted him came from a deal between a key witness and a prosecutor. The key witness got a reduced sentence, money, and a home in return for the statement.

“We now have to see whether Singh can be transferred to the Netherlands in another way,” lawyer Imamkhan said to Parool after the parole hearing. “That it hasn’t happened yet does not mean that Singh’s transfer is impossible. It is political unwillingness.”

Singh’s sister Sieta told Parool that she fears for her brother’s life every day. Lawyer Imamkan said she transferred him money monthly so that Singh could “buy his safety. Quite literally from the guards.”

In June 2021, parliament adopted a motion by SP parliamentarian Michel van Nispen pushing Minister Franc Weerwind for Legal Protection to work to get Singh released. In December 2022, the National Ombudsman concluded that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs did not provide Singh with the necessary consular assistance at the beginning of the case against him.