Campaign from the Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice
Update, 7 Jan 2013:
Dear friends,
The good news is that the Home Office have deferred the removal of Jeyaseelan to allow time for the judicial review to be heard.
This is excellent news, and a real tribute to all the work that you and his legal team put in. But we do not know yet for how long the Home Office is going to defer the removal, so this may not be the end of the story.
But at least he will not be returned to Sri Lanka tomorrow.
Kind regards,
The Sri Lanka Campaign.
3 January 2013
We previously wrote about our attempt to prevent the deportation of Mr Jeyaseelan. On that occasion the deportation was stopped. We initially reported that he had received an emergency injunction, but it later emerged that this was not the case. What actually happened was that the Home Office cancelled the removal of their own volition, claiming that Mr Jeyaseelan was too disruptive to be removed. But to our knowledge Mr Jeyaseelan was not being disruptive at all and so it appears that this was simply a convenient excuse.
There are two potential reasons why this could have happened. One is that it could well be that your pressure paid off, and they wished to avoid the negative publicity of a deportation and wait until our attention was elsewhere. Or even more cynically it could be that, as they knew that Mr Jeyaseelan is no longer entitled to legal aid and could not afford a private lawyer, they were simply hoping to wait him out.
But if that is the game they are playing then it will not work. Incredibly selfless lawyers have agreed to represent him pro-bono and we have been keeping a close eye on the case.
But now we need your help once again. Mr Jeyaseelan is again scheduled to be deported, this time at 8am on the 7th of January.
We are urgently trying to obtain fresh forensic medical evidence to back up a judicial review application which would keep Mr Jeyaseelan in the country. But this will not be possible before the 7th. Almost as if they knew this the Home Office are rushing this deportation through over the holiday period.
So please write once again to the Home Secretary and Qatar Airlines asking them to use their discretion not to deport Mr Jeyaseelan until he can be seen by forensic experts.
Mr Jeyaseelan is feeling suicidal. He is convinced that he will be tortured, sexually assaulted and murdered if he is returned to Sri Lanka. He has written a statement he has asked us to share. So convinced is he that he is going to die if he is removed that he has referred to this statement as his “last testimony”.
We include below his statement*, and a sample email to send to the Home Secretary and Qatar Airlines. Please take a few moments to send a few emails, and please spread the word.
Kind regards
The Sri Lanka Campaign