High Court halts Tamil deportation

A Tamil asylum seeker has been granted a temporary reprieve from being deported home to Sri Lanka after the High Court yesterday stopped him being removed from Australia.

And a second Sri Lankan, due to be deported today, is expected to have an injunction granted this morning, with refugee advocates due to lodge an urgent application to stop his removal.

Refugee advocates protested outside the Perth Immigration Detention Centre yesterday to stop the man, Emil, being driven to the airport.

The Refugee Action Coalition lodged an application with the Federal Magistrate’s Court last week but that was dismissed when the court determined it did not have the jurisdiction to become involved.

But the High Court effectively stopped Emil’s removal until a proper hearing could be held.

His removal would have been only the second forced deportation for the year.

Another man, Vithuran, had his action dismissed in the Federal Magistrate’s Court yesterday. But with another application expected to go to the High Court today, authorities are preparing to cancel his travel arrangements, scheduled for today.

The Immigration Department said yesterday there was no legal impediment stopping Vithuran’s deportation.

“Where people have had their claims thoroughly tested and have been found to not be a refugee, and where they have no other legal impediment to their return home, we make arrangements for their removal as soon as possible,” a spokeswoman said.

The department said protesters stopped “a DIAC vehicle from transporting a client to torture and trauma counselling, as well as obstructing other client transport and services”.

Emil, 37, arrived by boat in March last year, having been told by Indian authorities that he, his wife and child would have to return to Sri Lanka.

But he has exhausted all avenues for an Australian protection visa and was told last week that he would be sent back.

Source: http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/breaking/12329541/high-court-halts-tamil-deportation/