A Sri Lankan man questioned over the 2019 Easter bombings, which killed 269 people in Sri Lanka, is seeking asylum in the UK, the Telegraph reported.
The unnamed man was arrested in Sri Lanka over allegations of involvement in the attacks, which targeted luxury hotels and churches. He left the country in 2022 after being arrested and released on bail. He arrived in the UK in September 2022 and applied for asylum a month later, claiming that police had visited his family home and that he “fears persecution” if returned. He denies the allegations.
His initial asylum claim for himself and his wife was rejected by the Home Office, but he won an appeal at an upper immigration tribunal, and his case will now be reheard at a first-tier tribunal.
Last week, Home Secretary Shabana Mahmood announced major reforms to the UK asylum system, including making refugee status temporary and giving ministers powers to return migrants to their home country once deemed safe. She is also overhauling immigration appeals by replacing judges with adjudicators and limiting the ability of illegal migrants and foreign offenders to use human rights laws to fight deportation.
The 2019 Easter Sunday bombings claimed the lives of 38 foreign tourists, including Britons Anita Nicholson, 42, and her children, Alexander, 14, and Annabel, 11, at the Shangri-La Hotel in Colombo. Other victims included Lorraine Campbell, retired firefighter Bill Harrop, and his wife, Dr. Sally Bradley, at the Cinnamon Grand Hotel. The attacks were carried out by eight suicide bombers linked to the Islamist militant group National Thowheeth Jama’ath.
The upper tribunal noted that the man had been arrested on January 5, 2022, and released on bail after paying a substantial sum. An arrest warrant was issued on September 15, 2022, after he had already left Sri Lanka. The tribunal found errors in the first-tier tribunal’s handling of the case, including the judge’s failure to recognize that the arrest warrant was issued after the man had left the country and that he had been released on bail.
Deputy upper tribunal judge Claire Burns ordered a complete rehearing, stating that the tribunal must assess the credibility of the man’s account and review all documentary evidence. She clarified that the previous judges were not “highly prejudiced,” but errors of law required the decision to be set aside.
A Home Office spokesman said: “The government rejected this asylum claim to ensure this suspected terrorist never sets foot on British soil. We will robustly defend this decision through the courts. Recent reforms will make Britain a less attractive destination for illegal migrants and improve the efficiency of the appeals system.”
