Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Australia deports Tamil asylum seeker whose father was shot dead

A Tamil asylum seeker, whose father was shot dead and his mother and sister were disappeared this year has been deported to Sri Lanka from Australia, The Guardian reports. 

The man, known only as 'Kavi', had been detained in an immigration camp for the past four months after his bridging visa expired. 

He fled to Australia 6 years ago after the end of the armed conflict in 2009.

In a statement to Australia's home affairs minister, Kavi wrote:  

“On 5 January 2018 I received a very distressing call from my mother.

"My mother and sister were crying on the phone and she said my father had been shot dead on the farm. Up to now, no death certificate has been issued by the Sri Lankan authorities.

“I have now lost contact with my mother and sister. The last I spoke to them was on 28 March 2018. The Red Cross has been contacted to search for them. But until today I have no news about my mother and sister who are still missing.”

Read more here at The Guardian. 

The deportation comes just days after another asylum seeker who was deported from Australia was detained and charged on arrival to Colombo.
 

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.