A 30-year-old Tamil refugee separated from his family and deported from Australia has been released after he was arrested on arrival in Sri Lanka, the Tamil Refugee Council told SBS Tamil.
Thileepan Gnaneswaran was arrested in Colombo after being deported from Australia this week, his brother told SBS. He was due to face court on Wednesday night AEST. It is not clear what charges he faced.
Mr Gnaneswaran was denied a temporary protection visa by Australian authorities and, last Friday, issued with a removal notice by the Department of Home Affairs. He was this week forced to leave behind his wife, Karthika, and their 11-month-old daughter.
Mr Gnaneswaran's case has received international attention, with the United Nations condemning Australia's deportation policy.
Mr Gnaneswaran and his wife arrived in Australia separately and were married in 2016 in a religious ceremony. Ms Gnaneswaran said she and her daughter were granted a temporary protection Safe Haven Enterprise Visa, but her husband wasn’t.
"My daughter needs her father for her future ... [she] is missing her father," Ms Gnaneswaran, who hasn't been able to speak to her husband since his arrest, told SBS Tamil. "She is searching for him everywhere. I just can’t endure this pain."
The Tamil Refugee Council claims Mr Gnaneswaran was tortured by Sri Lankan security officers prior to his arrival in Australia because of his family's strong connections to rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
Home Affairs: 'Comprehensively assessed'
The Department of Home Affairs said the case had "been comprehensively assessed by the Department, the former Refugee Review Tribunal, the Federal Circuit Court, the Full Federal Court and the High Court".
"Foreign nationals who do not hold a valid visa and who have exhausted all outstanding avenues to remain in Australia are expected to depart voluntarily to their country of citizenship," a spokesperson said.
"Those unwilling to depart voluntarily will be subject to detention and removal from Australia."
Sri Lanka Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe last year urged asylum seekers from his country seeking residence in Australia to "come back".
"All is forgiven," he said during an official visit to Canberra. "They are welcome to return to Sri Lanka and we won't prosecute them. We will help them. But remember, they broke the law in ... attempting to come to Australia."
United Nations condemns deportation
The United Nations has voiced alarm at Australia's decision to "actively and indefinitely separate" the family of Mr Gnaneswaran, a recognised refugee.
The UN refugee agency warned that "the deportation overnight of the father leaves his Sri Lankan partner, who is a recognised refugee, alone with their 11-month-old daughter."
UNHCR said that prior to the scheduled deportation, it had appealed to the Australian government to allow the man to remain with his family but to no avail.
The move, it warned in a statement, "contravenes the basic right of family unity, as well as the fundamental principle of the best interests of the child".
Thileepan Gnaneswaran with his daughter Najomi. Source: Tamil Refugee Council / Facebook
UNHCR warned that Australia had gone "beyond a refusal to reunite families to instead actively and indefinitely separate them."
It pointed out that Australia legislation prevents Ms Gnaneswaran from ever sponsoring her spouse to join her and their child in Australia.
Australian law also prevents Mr Gnaneswaran from ever obtaining even a short-term visa to visit his family, it said.
The UN has long criticised Australia's policy of "offshore processing and deterrence", which since 2013 has seen asylum seekers who have reached the country shipped off to remote camps in Nauru and Papua New Guinea.
Protests erupt
On Monday, protests erupted outside Villawood Immigration Detention Centre in Sydney, where Mr Gnaneswaran was being held before he was deported.
Mr Gnaneswaran's wife Karthika Gnaneswaran said she didn't know how she will manage without her husband and doesn’t want daughter Najomi to be without her father. She also expressed fears for her husband’s safety in Sri Lanka.
"I'm really worried about what could happen to him at the hands of the CID [the Criminal Investigation Department of the Sri Lanka Police] and army," Ms Gnaneswaran told SBS News on Monday at a protest outside the detention centre.
"I'm also scared about being separated from him. I don't want my child to grow up without the safety and protection of her father. She will always have my support but every daughter needs a father as well."
Karthika Gnaneswaran, left, at a protest in Sydney. Source: SBS News
- Additional reporting by AFP.
