CAT/C/59/D/633/2014
Facts as presented by the complainant
2.1
The complainant was born in Valaichenai, Batticaloa District in the Eastern
Province of Sri Lanka. From 1975 onwards, militant groups in that area began recruiting
young men with the aim of enrolling them in military training. In 1985, the complainant
fled to Colombo for fear of being forcefully recruited by one of those groups. In 1987, he
returned to Valaichenai, from where he was abducted by the Tamil Eelam Liberation
Organization. He was detained at one of the organization’s camps and forced to work as a
cook in the camp kitchen. On an unspecified date, he escaped and again fled to Colombo.
2.2
The complainant remained in hiding in Colombo until 1991, when he returned to his
village. While he was in hiding in Colombo, his father was detained at the camp, where he
was subjected to questioning and tortured for two days in retaliation for the complainant’s
escape.
2.3
Later in 1991, the complainant obtained a passport and fled to Saudi Arabia where
he remained, except for two short trips back to Sri Lanka, until 2006, when he went to
Dubai. In 1999, the complainant’s aunt, T.M., was arrested, accused of terrorism and
detained.
2.4
While the complainant was in Dubai, the Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal
threatened to kill his wife and children. The group’s officers forced his wife out of the
family home and began using it as an office. She complained to the local police, but in vain.
In January 2007, the group sent her a letter demanding money, accompanied by a death
threat.
2.5
On 25 September 2008, the complainant left Dubai and returned to Sri Lanka to join
his wife. After returning to Sri Lanka, he worked as a rickshaw driver. In March 2012, the
complainant picked up a man from the train station, who asked the complainant to take him
to an office of the Eelam People’s Democratic Party. Shortly after that, the complainant
was stopped by the local police. The complainant and his passenger were interrogated and
briefly detained. During the interrogation, the complainant was accused of transporting a
member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam.
2.6
After that incident, the Sri Lankan authorities subjected the complainant to ongoing
monitoring, detention and delays at checkpoints. He was informed by other rickshaw
drivers that the police were asking questions about his passengers and their destinations.
2.7
As a result of that ongoing harassment and fearing its escalation, the complainant
decided to flee again, this time to Australia. He left Sri Lanka illegally by boat on 4 May
2012 and arrived in Australia on 11 June 2012.
2.8
After he arrived in Australia, his wife informed him that the Sri Lankan Criminal
Investigation Department was making inquiries about the large number of men that had left
the village and travelled to Australia and about his whereabouts, and had demanded money.
She refused to pay and was subsequently arrested.
2.9
After arriving in Australia, on 24 August 2012 the complainant applied for a
protection visa. His application was refused by a delegate of the Minister for Immigration
and Border Protection on 22 October 2012. On an unspecified date, he applied to the
Refugee Review Tribunal for review of that decision, but his application was dismissed on
20 August 2013. He then applied for leave for judicial review, but his application was
rejected on 26 June 2014. On 18 July 2014, the complainant made an application to the
Minister for Immigration and Border Protection for ministerial intervention under sections
417 and 48B of the Migration Act 1958, but the application was dismissed on 24 September
2014. The domestic immigration authorities found the complainant’s statements and claims
inconsistent, did not accept that his fear of persecution was well founded, and were not
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