11.5.2008
Neville de Silva - London
Britain
is on the verge of deporting LTTE rebel leader Vinayagamoorthy
Muralitharan alias Col Karuna to Colombo after he was
prematurely released from prison last week. Karuna, an
embarrassment to the British government from the time
it was known that he had travelled to Britain on a Sri
Lankan diplomatic passport issued under another name,
was serving a nine month sentence when he was given an
early release and transferred to an immigration detention
centre, believed to be at Harmondsworth.
If
he returned to Sri Lanka as expected, the Lankan government
too would have a problem on its hands given the reported
split between Karuna and Pillayan who has taken over the
leadership of the rebel group.
On
January 20, The Sunday Times exclusively reported from
London that Karuna who was produced in court a day before
the Christmas holidays last December had pleaded guilty
to travelling on a passport that did not belong to him.
The
British Home Office said it could not comment on the case
when contacted by the Sunday Times. The British Foreign
and Commonwealth Office confirmed that Karuna had been
moved to immigration care and drew attention to a statement
by the Crown Prosecution Service which had been studying
the possibility of charging Karuna with other offences
including those applicable under international law.
The
CPS said that there was “insufficient evidence to
provide a realistic prospect of conviction for any criminal
offences in the UK.” Since his arrest last November
human rights activists have been crying for his blood
and urging Britain to try him for war crimes and for violating
the UN Convention Against Torture arguing that it was
possible to do so under British law.
With
no prospect of that happening now, Britain would like
to get Karuna off their hands as quickly as possible,
informed sources said. “Deporting him is the only
way to get rid of him now that no other charges could
be brought against him,” a diplomatic source said.
He
is expected to be put on a flight to Colombo, mostly likely
on SriLankan Airlines, Sri Lanka’s national carrier
which is the only one flying direct to Colombo from here.
Sri Lanka authorities here or in Colombo are likely to
be given short notice of his deportation, if at all, out
of courtesy.
Informed
sources said that it was not necessary for any prior notice
to be given of the deportation. The Home Office has often
put detainees awaiting deportation on a flight at short
notice and sometimes on a weekend or a public holiday
making it difficult for detainees to contact their lawyers.
Karuna
who was moved last week from Wormwood Scrubs prison to
a detention centre had served less than four months of
his nine month sentence. But apparently the 32 days he
spent in custody awaiting trial had been taken into consideration
in granting him early release for good behaviour.
In
January the Sunday Times predicted that Karuna “will
possibly spend only five months or less of his nine month
term setting a poser for the British authorities and himself.”
Karuna’s
lawyer David Harvey Phillips of the legal firm David Phillips
was quoted as saying that Karuna had not formally applied
for asylum to remain in Britain.He could still do so but
it is most unlikely it will be considered seriously as
he had failed to do so shortly after arriving in the UK.
Karuna
might not have done so because he was under the impression
that the diplomatic passport he travelled on would protect
him as he indicated to court before he was sentenced.
Karuna’s
wife and children who preceded him to Britain have applied
for asylum. But sources said that their case was still
pending.
Courtesy - Sunday
Times online