Bid to stop deportation of SL Tamils thwarted

http://www.defence.lk/new.asp?fname=20110618_07

Bid to stop deportation of SL Tamils thwarted
(By: Sujeeva Nivunhella in London)
The UK on Thursday ( June 16), night deported 26 Sri Lankans including Sinhalese, Tamils and Muslims in spite of strong protests by some MPs and Tamil groups.
Responding to a query by The Island, sources said that among the deportees were failed asylum seekers, those who overstayed visas and illegal immigrants. A special flight carrying the group and British escorts was scheduled to arrive at the Bandaranaike International Airport (BIA) on Friday.
A last minute attempt by several British MPs, Human Rights activists representing Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and lawyers hired by the deportees failed to prevent the special flight leaving the Gatwick airport. Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International, too, are deeply involved in the anti-Sri Lanka campaign.
Sources alleged that a section of the media had made an attempt to identify all deportees as failed asylum seekers.
A senior Sri Lankan official said that some of those involved in the ongoing attempt spearheaded by the UK-based Global Tamil Forum (GTF) and the Channel 4 television station targeting Sri Lanka, had thrown their weight behind the operation to stop the deportation.
The labour MP for Mitcham and Morden, Ms. Siobhain McDonagh, who recently moved a motion in the British parliament attacking Sri Lanka over alleged war crimes lashed out at the government for going ahead with the deportation. Addressing the House of Commons, the MP said that Tamils shouldn't be deported due to continuing abuses, including torture and extra-judicial killings.
The Labour MP alleged that the Tamils were vulnerable due to UK Border Agency (UKBA) sharing their information with the government of Sri Lanka.
Deputy Speaker Lindsay Hoyle rejected McDonagh's call for an emergency debate on the issue.
In spite of a deportee making a suicide attempt by hanging himself with his duvet in an airport detention centre, British authorities put him onboard the special flight.
A senior spokesperson for the Sri Lankan High Commission in London told The Island they hadn't shared information regarding the deportees with UKBA, though the HC identified the 26 individuals as Sri Lankans and issued travel documents for them to travel to Sri Lanka.
The official emphasized that there was absolutely no basis for claims that the failed asylum seekers had been tortured in Sri Lanka or would face torture once they returned. That was nothing but one of their tactics to secure asylum in the UK, he said.
British Immigration Minister Damian Green said that the UK took its international responsibilities seriously and considered each claim for asylum on its individual merits. He further said that if an applicant sought international protection they would grant it.