Court Orders Government to Free Sri Lankan

Court Orders Government to Free Sri Lankan

By PETER PRENGAMAN, Associated Press Writer
12:44 PM PST, March 19, 2006


SAN DIEGO -- After more than four years in U.S. detention centers, Ahilan Nadarajah will soon gain the freedom he sought when he fled Sri Lanka and the government forces there that he says repeatedly jailed and tortured him.

He had reached the United States in October 2001 only to be detained on the same accusations that almost got him killed in his home country: He is suspected of being a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam, a separatist group listed as a terrorist organization by the U.S. State Department.

Nadarajah denies the claims, and immigration judges have twice granted him asylum. But the federal government refused to release him.

The latest order came Friday from the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, telling the U.S. government it was violating federal law by continuing to hold him even though he wasn't criminally charged and couldn't be deported in the foreseeable future. His lawyers said they now expect him to be freed in a few days.

"I lost my time and my life, and I almost lost my mind, too," Nadarajah said in a phone interview from the Otay Mesa detention center, at the U.S.-Mexico border south of San Diego. "It's not fair. They put me in jail without reason."


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http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/wire/sns-ap-sri-lankan-release,1,1134067.story?coll=sns-ap-nation-headlines

His Attorney represented his client impeccably!!! Now it is very important to see what the "regime" does next. The ball is in their court. I'm betting they finally CHARGE HIM with some trumped up bullshit, rather than let him go thereby admitting they were WRONG !! This could further enhance our case against shrub for impeachment, as this proves "his government" is BREAKING THE LAW!! :toast:

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