Four Tamils arrested with false passports

(December, 30, Philipsburg, Sri Lanka Guardian) Four men from Sri Lanka, claiming to be asylum seekers, launched an injunction Thursday against the Lt. Governor on Philipsburg the capital of Dutch St. Maarten in a bid to obtain their freedom.

The four men were arrested at Princess Juliana International Airport on November 24 because they were travelling with false passports. The men came from England and France and were attempting to travel to Canada via Guadeloupe and St. Maarten.

The men, one aged 55, the others in their 30s, all belong to the Tamil minority, said their lawyer Denicio Brison.

According to news reports, “Many Tamils in Sri Lanka feel they are being discriminated against by the Singhalese majority in their country. This resulted in a demand for federalism, which in the 1970s grew into a movement for an autonomous Tamil country. The situation deteriorated into civil war in the early 1980s. A ceasefire in effect since 2002 broke down in August 2006 amid shelling and bombing from both sides.”

“The four Tamils applied for asylum in England and France, one as early as 2004. However, they were afraid their requests would be turned down. Fearing that they would be persecuted in their home country they attempted to travel to Canada”, the report added.

According to their lawyer, they fell in the hands of professional human smugglers who provided them with falsified passports, but their efforts stranded in St. Maarten.

Brison said it was not the first time the four were arrested here. They were also arrested on July 25 for the same crime. They were then released from detention after eight weeks, pending a temporary solution for their problems.

According to Brison, this solution was never found and the injunction filed was in an effort to find some kind of arrangement for his clients.

He explained that under international law, rejected refugees are to be returned to the country they came from, in this case to France.

This is also the position taken by the Lt. Governor in this case. Government lawyer in this case, Richard Gibson Jr., told Judge Willem Jan Noordhuizen that the Lt. Governor wants the four Tamils to be sent back to France.

Brison said there was an easier solution than to send the four back to France. “France is only a ten-minute drive away. However, up till now the authorities here have not tried to involve the authorities in St. Martin in this case. This injunction was intended to force the Lt. Governor’s Office to do something for my clients.”

Brison said the Tamils are currently being held at the Police Station. “But they are no criminals. Their detention is a violation of international human rights,” said Brison. The judge will give his decision on January 7