Deported Sri Lankans 'beaten and killed'

19 May 2010, 6:37 pm   -   Source: SBS - Keith Breene
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Sri Lankan asylum seekers deported from Australia have been beaten and killed, a refugee support organisation says. 

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Sri Lankan asylum seekers deported from Australia have been beaten and killed, a refugee support organisation says. 

Their investigation found nine people died after being sent back under the Howard Government and others returned in the last year have been assaulted and imprisoned.

Australia has suspended its processing of Sri Lankan asylum seekers pointing to improved conditions in the country.

"Some of them are taken to prison, some of them have been assaulted. We know man has lost his hearing one man has had sight damage," Phil Glendenning from the Edmund Rice Centre told SBS.

"Some of them remain in prison where they are not represented. And we think that returning people to this situation is seriously exposing them to danger and therefore in breach of Australia's international obligations," he said.

Some in the Tamil community in Australia say the Sri Lankan government poses a threat to current deportees, even those not detained.

Bala Vigneswaran is a community leader.

"They are under the government's watchful eye so the government doesn't have to do anything straight away. They will wait. They will do things a bit later," he told SBS.

This is what the Sri Lankan High Commissioner said of the new allegations: "This is a total lie and completely unsubstantiated... No complaints have been brought to the attention of the Government of Sri Lanka.

"It is quite obvious that the real people behind this news item are the so-called refugee advocates who appear to be actively engaged in arranging people smuggling operations".

But Phil Glendenning insists Australia must change its policy.

"In the period of the Howard Government nine people died who came to Australia to seek asylum and were returned."

"We cannot go back to repeating that to a situation where the lives of vulnerable people - asylum seekers from Sri Lanka for example - can become some kind of auction item in an Australian election," Mr Glendenning told SBS.

With asylum claims from Afghans and Sri Lankans suspended, the government is looking for new ways to house the growing number of people here.

Several Church groups have said they have been contacted by to see if they are willing to take people in.

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Your Comments

mrs kaz

ancienthealing@netspace.net.au - from hawthorn east, 2 years ago

Australia has its own home grown asylun seekers all on hundred thousand homeless people dying of hypothermia every night , beaten and killed on our streets every night with for thousand people m igrating to oz every week to live oz is full the trains are full,thousands lose their jobs every week can n ot fit on the train to get to work in the first place ,plus school chrildren , can not fit on ither with more people using our electriscity in heat wave it cuts out R.I.P .turn back A.S

Blatant lies..

Keith - from Goodwood, SA, 2 years ago

Joshua...Australians are surprised several Aust. Newspaper Journalists travelled to Sri Lanka for your news item, could you tell us which Aust. Newspapers did so, or is this Tamil LTTE propaganda to mislead Aust. Public.

Mr (pensioner.)

John - from Toorak, Melbourne, 2 years ago

I disagree with Sherkahn, Tamil Diaspora funded these Tamil Terrorists in Sri Lanka for the past 30 Years, there is nothing new about this concept.

Mr (pensioner.)

Sherkahn - from Brisbane, 2 years ago

This was during Mr Howards tenure. They may have been known Tamil terrorists. So why bring it up now? Sorting the wild from the chaff is the new responsibility. Today's flood is a new concept and must be dealt with carefully.

L.T.T.E Propaganda

Rav4 - from Newcastle, 2 years ago

LTTE false propaganda has been misleading the west for years and they sought refuge in developed nations and got it. They were the most barbaric and fascistic terrorist organisation in the world. Most came to the doveloped nations and funded the brutal war in Sri Lanka by forcefully (some by donations) extorting money from the Tamil diaspora. Please wake up world. Everybody (Except ignorant politicians) knows the truth about them. I am glad the LTTE was defeated. The truth may prevail!.

Any evidence?

Jin - from Melbourne, 2 years ago

As the Sri Lankan High Commissioner said it is this so called refugee advocates who make a living out of these sort of issues and refugee influxes make those type of wired comments. Can this person who says nine were killed as if he was witnessing it put forward any names of those? I could say 18 refugees who came to Australia were beaten 11 died one lost a limb and another lost hearing, which obviously is not true and I wouldn't do it coz I'm not making a living out of it. Pathetic

Claims deported Sri Lankans killed

Steve - from Kew, Melbourne, 2 years ago

Yet another Tamil(LTTE) false propaganda, to mislead Aust. Public

Blatant lies..

Joshua - from Canberra, 2 years ago

What a blatant lie. Several Australian news papers have met up personally, interviewed and carried stories of failed asylum seekers living in Sri Lanka.

Mr

Gangdhi - from London, 2 years ago

Tamil terrorists from Sri Lanka goes to the West claiming all sorts of discrimination. Where did the Tamils who are already in the West get their education and skills from. These Tamils are not different to other Indians in the former British Empire. They are a privileged lot.

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