Chennai: An appeal for the release of human rights activist and medical doctor Binayak Sen has been made by twenty-two Nobel laureates. Dr. Sen has been in jail for a year now, incarcerated under a Chhattisgarh government law that enables the State to hold people without bail.

The appeal was made in a letter to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and President Pratibha Patil. It called for his release to enable him to attend a ceremony where he will be presented the Jonathan Mann Award for Global Health and Human Rights on May 29, in Washington.

Dr. Sen, 58, was jailed on May 14 last year after being charged with having links with Maoist rebels in the state. He has denied the allegations.

Media reports said the signatories made the following appeal: "We wish to express grave concern that Dr Sen appears to be incarcerated solely for peacefully exercising his fundamental human rights." The letter was signed by Nobel Prize-winning economists and scientists.

Laws don’t meet human rights standards

The laureates pointed out that the two internal security laws of Chhattisgarh under which Dr.Sen had been charged -- an unlawful activities Act and a state public security Act -- do not meet international human rights standards.

The signatories include economists Kenneth Arrow and Finn Kydland, scientists Claude Cohen-Tannoudji, Charles Townes, Yuan Lee, Harold Varmus and John Walker.

The Global Health Council, an alliance of medical organizations and professionals, chose Sen, trained as a pediatrician, for the award last month.

According to the award citation, Sen focused his life's work on improving the health care and living conditions of the poor in the tribal regions of central India.

Several organisations announced their intention to join a protest in several international cities on May 14 to mark the first year of Dr. Sen being jailed by the Chhattisgarh government.