Karuna likely to be deported to Lanka

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.