We, the undersigned, protest against the recent “appeal” judgement which resulted in an innocent Master and (Capt Jasprit Chawla) and Chief Officer (Syam Chetan) being sent to jail for the crime of doing everything possible to notify the local VTS that there may be a problem of which they were unaware; and of minimisimng an oil spill (some 4 percent of the total cargo onboard at the time of being hit by the Samsung No1 crane barge).

We fully support actions taken by the Indian Unions and other concerned maritime parties to boycott Korean ships, Korean products and especially Samsung products.

We agree with proposed action by Indian seafarers refusing to sail to Korea until both Capt Jasprit Chawla and Mr Syam Chetan have been released and returned to their families.

We challenge the Korean authorities to have this matter brought before any international maritime court, with experienced maritime judges to review this complete case of criminal charges against innocent seafarers – based on internal politics and corporate influence as opposed to substantiated, factual charges.