Asylum seekers deported from Britain arrive in Sri Lanka

Sri Lankan asylum seekers deported by Britain arrived at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Katunayake on Friday, an airport official said. A group of 36 asylum seekers that included 28 Tamils has returned to Sri Lanka on a special charter flight from London after the British government rejected their asylum requests.
Officials of the UK Border Agency had accompanied the Sri Lankans on their return journey and handed them over to officers, Xinhua reported. According to officials, the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) has recorded their before releasing them. Meanwhile, a Britain court has granted a last-minute reprieve to 40 other asylum seekers who were to be deported by the British government after the court has heard testimony from their lawyers raising concerns that deportees will be tortured when they reach Sri Lanka. New York-based Human Rights Watch (HRW) this week said that Britain should immediately halt deporting Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka and review its policies in assessing their claims. They say that investigations have found that some Tamil asylum seekers had been tortured upon their return to the country. Sri Lankan government however denies torturing the returnees and Britain's Foreign Office has earlier said there had been no substantiated allegations of mistreatment of those returned from the UK. Most of the asylum seekers have fled during the war claiming they fear for life and persecution by the government, but the government says most of them are economic refugees looking for greener pastures.