Tamil Makkal Thesiya Kootani leader, C.V. Wigneswaran said that Tamil asylum seekers who were deported to Sri Lanka earlier this week were at the risk of "surveillance, torture and arbitary detention."
Despite our calls to stop the mass deportations of #Tamils from Germany to Sri Lanka, I am dismayed to hear that a significant number of Tamils were indeed deported and being now at risk of surveillance, arbitrary detention and torture. #Germany has failed to uphold #HumanRights pic.twitter.com/mvQFJOAddo
— CV Wigneswaran (@CWigneswaran) March 30, 2021
On Tuesday, 31 Tamil asylum seekers were deported from Germany to Sri Lanka despite reports of ongoing torture on the island.
Following reports that the German authorities detained over 100 Tamil asylum seekers, Wigneswaran appealed to Germany's Foreign Minister in a letter, to stop the mass deportation of Tamil asylum seekers. He highlighted that Sri Lanka's notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act "continues to be used to justify the mistreatment of Tamils for no reason other than their ethinicity."
Wigneswaran added that it is "astonishing that Germany, within a week of co-authoring and voting for a UNHRC resolution, which condemns human rights violations by the Sri Lankan state, would act contrary to the spirit of this resolution by planning to deport up to 100 Tamils to Sri Lanka."
As well as raiding homes, authorities reportedly invited asylum seekers to renew their permits to remain but upon arrival at the building, they were detained by police officers, who confiscated their phones and prevented them from communicating with their relatives and loved ones. Many families still do not know the whereabouts of their loved ones who have been detained.
