Malaysia’s opposition Democratic Action Party (DAP) has slammed the deportation of three Tamil men to Sri Lanka as “most unacceptable”, warning that the men face torture in Sri Lanka.
DAP vice-chairman M Kulasegaran said earlier,
“The deportation is most unacceptable as Sri Lanka political leaders themselves have been alleged to have committed war crimes, genocide, ethnic cleansing and crimes against humanity... Deportation is cruel and inhuman because there is a possibility that they may have face torture or prosecution”.
The move to deport the three Tamils has sparked criticism from NGOs, including Human Rights Watch, and leading to the UN refugee agency expressing concerns over their safety.
Kulasegaran, who is also a Member of Parliament for Ipoh Barat, went on to add,
“Malaysia is not a party to the 1951 Refugee Convention which governs the status of refugees... International law requires a non-signatory to this Convention of refugees not to deport if there is a possibility that the refugee may face torture or persecution for which Sri Lankan authorities are world famous for”
“With all these wrongdoings of the Sri Lankan authorities, how can our investigators label the three detainees as terrorists?”.
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