Tamil asylum seekers who were deported from Germany and Switzerland on Tuesday night will be handed to Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department (CID), the Daily Mirror reported.
The failed asylum seekers who arrived in Colombo yesterday were handed to the Sri Lankan army by the Immigration and Emmigration department at Bandaranaike International Airport to controversial army run quarantine centres. An airport official told the Daily Mirror that the Tamil deportees will be then handed to the CID and the National Intelligence Unit for legal action.
Large protests at Düsseldorf airport were carried out on Wednesday night as demonstrators called on Germany to release the estimated 100 Tamil asylum seekers and halt their deportation. Four detained Tamil asylum seekers from Baden Württemberg, South Germany were released at the last minute at Düsseldorf airport and sent home by train.
Last week, almost 100 Tamil asylum seekers were detained by German authorities following a series of raids. The German authorities also 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.
The mass deportation comes just weeks after Germany co-sponsored a resolution at the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC), which "expresses serious concern at the trends emerging over the past year, which represent a clear early warning sign of a deteriorating situation of human rights in Sri Lanka, including... increased marginalisation of persons belonging to the Tamil and Muslim communities... arbitrary detentions; alleged torture and other cruel, inhumane degrading treatment or punishment, and sexual and gender-based violence."
Switzerland also expressed similar concerns over the deteriorating situation in Sri Lanka at the UNHRC, and said that it “remains deeply concerned by this impunity in the face of international crimes and grave violations of human rights suspected to have been committed more than ten years ago." Switzerland also called on “the Human Rights Council to take new steps in favour of victims and justice in Sri Lanka."
Germany and Switzerland have been criticised for their decision to deport Tamil asylum seekers to Sri Lanka despite evidence highlighting that Tamils face torture upon their return.
