The two NGOs Human Rights Watch and Freedom from Torture presented evidence of, combined, at least 37 cases in which returned Tamils were interrogated and tortured by Sri Lankan authorities. Among the torture methods have allegedly been beatings with pipes or clubs, whipping with cables, burns, and sexual assault.
Despite the government’s pledges only to remove people who face no risk of torture, the human rights organisations call for an immediate halt of the deportation of Tamils to Sri Lanka. If the human rights organisations’ claims were correct, the UK, as a state party to the Convention against Torture, would violate article 3 of the same convention which states that no state “shall expel, return (‘refouler’) or extradite a person to another State where there are substantial grounds for believing that he would be in danger of being subjected to torture.”
Guardian: Tamils to be deported despite clear torture evidence
HRW: United Kingdom: Halt Deportation Flight to Sri Lanka
Freedom from Torture: New Research Highlights Risk for Tamils Returning to Sri Lanka from UK
