(Photograph: Antonio Olmos/The Guardian)

Mayooran Thangaratnam, a 41-year-old Tamil asylum seeker whose father was murdered by Sri Lankan forces, has spent almost two decades fighting to remain in the UK and against erroneous deportation orders.

“I have been suicidal for so many years because of my treatment here. I have spent the best years of my life in limbo. I hoped to go to university and start a career but I’ve missed those opportunities now” Thangaratnam told reporters.

As a child, Thangaratnam and his family narrowly avoided the Navaly Church massacre in which the Sri Lankan air force dropped 13 bombs on St Peter’s Church in Navaly in 1995. More than 140 sheltering Tamils, who were encouraged by the military to seek refuge at the church, were killed on the spot. At least 13 children were among the dead, with many more succumbing to injuries later as the local hospital was swamped with the wounded.  The massacre was orchestrated by then President, President Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Read more here: ‘Before I could run bombs began falling’ - Remembering the Navaly church massacre

In 2003, at the age of 23, he fled to the UK following the assassination of his father, a journalist who collected photographic evidence of war crimes by the Sri Lankan army and tried to present it to the UN. His current solicitor, Naga Kandiah of MTC solicitors, told Tamil Guardian that his family faced routine harassment from the Human Rights Commission in Sri Lanka, "which was infused with perpetrators from the Sri Lankan government". This would eventually lead to the killing of his father. The Home Office to a week to dismiss the case and he was ordered to report regularly at Home Office centres.

The Guardian notes, that the Home Office is believed to have added the false claim that  Thangaratnam was convicted of child murder to his files in 2006. Whilst the Home Office file claimed he was sentenced for 16 years for the murder of a one-year-old in 2004; there is no record of this by the Police National Computer.

 On three occasions – 2008, 2014 and 2018 – the Home Office tried to deport him. In assessing his risks to a planned deportation, the Home Office asserted that whilst he claimed to suffer from depression, “there is no professional evidence to corroborate this claim”.

Speaking with reporters, Thangaratnam explained his aspirations to come to the UK and start a new life as an accountant.

“I hoped to go to university and start a career but I’ve missed those opportunities now […] When I found out that the Home Office had a record on my file that I am a child murderer I felt more suicidal and very traumatised”.

In 2019 and 2021, Thangaratnam appointed new lawyers who were successfully able to secure him refugee status. Kandiah has applied to the Home Office for indefinite leave to remain. Speaking to the Guardian, Kandiah stated:

“My client has been in limbo for half his life and the Home Office made several erroneous attempts to deport an innocent man".

Naga Kandiah, Mayooran’s current solicitor from MTC, told the Tamil Guardian: 

“The Home Office were making full efforts to deport my client, an innocent man, on an erroneous basis. This meant that the client before being represented by us was in a very precarious position that required proper legal representation to challenge and combat the Home Office's error.

This is sadly a case where the standard of representation provided by previous solicitor for 16 Years fell well below expectations which caused further injustice. Being in such a limbo meant that he lost half of his lifetime. Unfortunately, the immigration legal sector is a place where there are representatives who do not take their ethical obligations seriously, this erodes the integrity of the profession. Helping such clients who have been poorly represented becomes a salvage mission to try and rescue a client's case which may have merit and substance.”

In June 2021, the Home Office lost a legal case against two Tamil refugees who were politically active in the UK. The British tribunal found that Tamils who engage in a range of political activities in the United Kingdom may continue to face “a real risk of ill-treatment or harm” if deported to Sri Lanka.

Read more here: How a landmark British ruling may save Tamil activists from deportation to Sri Lanka

Read more at the Guardian.