Or was he a member of the media whose link to the terrorist organization banned in Canada was a factual error in a years-old newspaper article?
The Immigration and Refugee Board concluded Wednesday that more work needed to be done on the man's case, but in the meantime, Canada Border Services Agency asked that the man be held on security grounds.
The latest round of detention reviews for some of the nearly 500 Tamil migrants who arrived in British Columbia aboard the MV Sun Sea a month ago began Wednesday.
The migrants were taken into custody at CFB Esquimalt last month after the CBSA argued their detention was required because their identities had not been confirmed.
The men are being held at the Fraser Regional Correctional Centre in Maple Ridge, B.C., east of Vancouver.
Jennifer Friburg, CBSA's representative at the hearing, said the migrant's name turned up in a Sri Lankan newspaper article detailing a trip taken by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam to raise money for humanitarian aid.
Friburg said during his first interview with Canadian officials, the migrant -- who can't be identified because of a publication ban -- was asked if he'd ever travelled outside Sri Lanka. He denied it.
When the migrant was shown the newspaper article, he allegedly said he had been on at least part of the trip but only as a member of the media.
"CBSA believes that these contradictory statements ... clearly indicates deception on his part and negatively impacts his credibility," Friburg told the refugee board.
Antya Schrack, the migrants' duty counsel, argued the article was not enough to hold him on security grounds.
Schrack said her client told her he was travelling as an independent member of the media and was not associated with the Tamil Tigers.
Schrack accused CBSA of taking its time following up on the article. The migrant's initial interview was Aug. 18 -- five days after the boat arrived -- and a security interview has still not been completed.
Marc Tessler, the refugee board member in charge of the hearing, ruled the migrant must be kept behind bars until questions about the article can be answered at his next detention review hearing.
"It's clear to me that the minister's concern is that (the migrant) may be inadmissible on the grounds of membership in a terrorist organization," he said.
"I'm satisfied that the evidence the minister has provided is reasonably capable of supporting the suspicion."
The migrant, wearing a red T-shirt and pants along with white shoes, sat silently throughout the hearing. He had no expression when he was ordered to remain in custody.
Tessler acknowledged there may be an entirely innocent explanation of why the migrant was mentioned by name in the article.
In response to Schrack's objection, Tessler conceded there is "a very low standard" in deeming someone appearing before the panel a security risk.
The migrant's identity and documents must also still be definitively confirmed.
CBSA said it has completed identity assessments on 40 of the 492 migrants. None have yet been released.
At a different refugee board hearing earlier in the day, adjudicator Michael McPhalen cautioned CBSA that if the documents of some of the migrants are proven to be genuine, he will consider alternatives to incarceration.
"If all of those documents are sent off for analysis and if they all appear to be genuine with no tampering, CBSA may find that the member, particularly this member, will start looking more closely at alternatives to detention," he said.
Daniel McLeod, duty counsel for some of the migrants, said CBSA is moving too slowly.
McLeod said one would expect that nearly a month after the ship arrived, some of the migrants had been released.
The border services agency has said the process is moving slower than normal because so many migrants arrived at one time.
Parminder Singh, a CBSA representative, told one of the hearings Wednesday that organized human smuggling operations cause particular concern when it comes to establishing identity.
He said a number of ripped identification documents were found on board the MV Sun Sea. They included one birth certificate, one death certificate and two Sri Lankan national identification cards.
CBSA also found 300 pieces of various birth certificates and some passport pages.
Singh said it may take "several months" to complete investigations into some of the migrants.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees has been contacted to assist in verifying identities.
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