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Australian cameras linked to Tamil arrests
MATT WADE HERALD CORRESPONDENT
October 28, 2009

COLOMBO: Surveillance cameras at Colombo Airport paid for by the Australian Government have been linked to a spate of extra-judicial arrests.Reports of detentions at the airport are driving Sri Lankan Tamils to flee the country in boats rather than by air, a well-placed official says.A prominent Tamil MP, Mano Ganesan, said at least 29 people had been detained at the airport this month. A Government official speaking on condition of anonymity confirmed the figure and said 11 had been released.

Mr Ganesan said no notification had been given to the families of those detained. ''These CCTV cameras are being used to monitor the movement of Tamil people. Through the cameras they identify suspects and then the policemen are accosting people. No one knows if they will be able to catch their flight.''

A Sri Lankan worker for a non-governmental organisation told the Herald that humanitarian workers and human rights activists were also increasingly wary about using the airport.

''There is definitely a lot of fear now that you will be stopped at the airport,'' he said.

''There is a sense that a screening process is going on.''

The arrests at the airport meant many young Tamils had opted for boats rather than departure by air, one official told the Herald, on condition of anonymity.

''These disappearances at the airport are making people very worried,'' the official said. ''This is driving people to boats.''

A spokeswoman for the Australian high commission in Colombo confirmed that ''in co-operation with the Government of Sri Lanka the Department of Immigration and Citizenship funded the installation of closed-circuit television cameras at Bandaranaike International Airport, Colombo, which was completed in April 2008''.

The aid is aimed at improving Sri Lanka's border security.

No one from Sri Lanka's Department for Immigration and Emigration was available to comment on the use of the airport surveillance cameras yesterday.

A 25-year civil war between the army and the separatist Tamil Tigers ended with the military defeat of the rebels in May.

Mr Ganesan said Tamils were being arrested at the airport without justification and this was adding to post-war tensions.

''Even Tamils leaving the country with legitimate visas for education, business or personal reasons are being harassed and detained,'' he said.

''It is very difficult to tell the difference between arrest and abduction. When people get arrested at the airport, or elsewhere in the city, the police do not inform family members or follow the correct rules and regulations. They just take them away to various investigative units.''

The Government says many of the reports of disappearances are false and intended to discredit it and its allies.

But Mr Ganesan, MP for an electorate in Colombo and leader of a political party called the Democratic People's Front, said the number of people seized at the airport had increased significantly since the end of the war.

''People who want to go out of the country are now being arrested; people who are coming into the country from various parts of the world are also being arrested, and all of them are Tamils.''

Mr Ganesan said he knew of families who were searching police stations in Colombo for information about relatives who had disappeared at Bandaranaike, the country's only international airport.

The climate of fear among Tamils has underpinned the recent increase in the number seeking asylum in Australia.

http://www.smh.com.au/world/australian-cameras-linked-to-tamil-arrests-20091027-hj3b.html