The Australian Immigration Department has denied that the deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seeker Dayan Anthony is a shift in their policy towards the boat people.
The Australian Immigration Department has denied that the deportation of Sri Lankan asylum seeker Dayan Anthony is a shift in their policy towards the boat people.
Daniel Sanders, immigration officer at the Department of Immigration, said that while Anthony’s deportation was the first such incident it did not mean that they would immediately start deporting the rest of the asylum seekers.
“Anthony was deported because his application for refugee status was unsuccessful. He went through the same process that all the other asylum seekers will go through, if their applications are successful they will be allowed to stay, if not they will be deported,” he explained.
Sanders refused to comment on the reason why the UN’s last minute plea to reverse the deportation order was not successful, saying only that, “no new evidence had been given to change our decision”.
Upon arrival in Sri Lanka last week Anthony had been taken to the CID headquarters where he was questioned for several hours.
Police spokesperson, SP Ajith Rohana, explained that the police had questioned him to find out more details regarding his allegations of having been abducted and tortured in 2009. Rohana added that Anthony had withdrawn his complaint on torture, explaining that the human smugglers had instructed him to say he was tortured so as to gain access to Australia.
Rohana said that since Anthony had not left Sri Lanka illegally and he was not filing a complaint alleging torture he would not be investigated any further. “Anthony left Sri Lanka and flew to Bangkok on a valid passport, it was when he left Bangkok and flew to Australia that he used forged documents. Since this was not done in Sri Lanka, no charges will be filed against him,” he added.
Anthony was deported from Australia on Wednesday, having spent over 2 years in the Maribyrnong Detention Centre in Melbourne applying for refugee status. At the time of his departure Anthony’s brother-in-law told media that he feared for Anthony’s life as he believed that he would be arrested and tortured upon arrival in the country.
Anthony is the first Tamil to be deported from Australia since the war ended in 2009.
(SL)