Lankans to be deported

15 June 2011 01:59 am Views - 6488

Dozens of Sri Lankan asylum seekers including some with links to the Tamil Tigers are expected to be deported from Britain to return to the troubled country.

About 40 are believed to be facing deportation, with human rights campaigners fearing the refugees may suffer reprisals in Sri Lanka, where the Tigers were defeated in 2009 during the civil war.

News of the deportations came as Channel 4 showed video footage of atrocities carried out during the final weeks of the 2009 conflict.

The documentary called Sri Lanka’s Killing Fields aired last night, showing violent scenes that caused many Sri Lankans to flee. Alistair Burt, foreign minister, said he was “shocked” by the programme and said the footage contained evidence of “violations of international humanitarian and human rights law.”

Sri Lankan authorities rejected the footage as falsified and accused the United Nations of bias and jumping to hasty conclusions.

Channel 4 claimed the group of asylum seekers, many of whom are Tamil, were being forced back into danger with a flight believed to be scheduled for tomorrow.  (telegraph.co.uk)