05-21-2004, 09:54 AM
Reprieve for Tamil Tiger 'leader' facing deportation
Toronto: A man accused by Canadian intelligence services of being a Tamil Tiger leader won a stay of his deportation to Sri Lanka, after claiming he could face torture.
Muralitharan Nadarajah was to be put on a flight from Toronto on Thursday night to Colombo, but a judge gave him a stay of deportation on Wednesday, after a last ditch appeal by his lawyer.
Judge Sandra Simpson ruled in Federal Court that Nadarajah had the right to challenge the Canadian government's claim that he was unlikely to be tortured if deported.
Since he is currently in a detention centre in Toronto, she also ruled that he was not a risk to the public.
A document released in 2000 by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service identified Nadarajah as a 'top international leader' of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Nadarajah's lawyer was not immediately available on Thursday, but in an interview from a Toronto detention centre, the accused Tamil 'leader' denied he had supported the armed struggle.
"I never, ever carried arms," Nadarajah told the National Post newspaper. "I never even touched a gun in my whole life," he said, arguing that he had not played a military role, despite supporting self-determination for Tamils.
Canada's Federal Court of Appeal is expected to rule on his case later this year.
Nadarajah entered Canada at a border crossing south of Montreal in 1998, and lived and worked freely in the country for around six years.
Sify News
Toronto: A man accused by Canadian intelligence services of being a Tamil Tiger leader won a stay of his deportation to Sri Lanka, after claiming he could face torture.
Muralitharan Nadarajah was to be put on a flight from Toronto on Thursday night to Colombo, but a judge gave him a stay of deportation on Wednesday, after a last ditch appeal by his lawyer.
Judge Sandra Simpson ruled in Federal Court that Nadarajah had the right to challenge the Canadian government's claim that he was unlikely to be tortured if deported.
Since he is currently in a detention centre in Toronto, she also ruled that he was not a risk to the public.
A document released in 2000 by the Canadian Security Intelligence Service identified Nadarajah as a 'top international leader' of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
Nadarajah's lawyer was not immediately available on Thursday, but in an interview from a Toronto detention centre, the accused Tamil 'leader' denied he had supported the armed struggle.
"I never, ever carried arms," Nadarajah told the National Post newspaper. "I never even touched a gun in my whole life," he said, arguing that he had not played a military role, despite supporting self-determination for Tamils.
Canada's Federal Court of Appeal is expected to rule on his case later this year.
Nadarajah entered Canada at a border crossing south of Montreal in 1998, and lived and worked freely in the country for around six years.
Sify News
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