A 25-year-old Tamil man facing deportation to Sri Lanka has thanked Melbourne protesters who were today able to prevent him from being flown to Darwin from Melbourne airport.
Puvaneethan, who fears he will be tortured if returned to Sri Lanka, returned to the Melbourne Immigration Detention Centre this afternoon after an aborted attempt by immigration officials to fly him to Darwin, possibly en route to Colombo.
“I’m back in the room and I’m fine. I want to say thank you to all the people who helped me”, Puvaneethan told the Tamil Refugee Council.
Protesters, led by the Refugee Action Collective, forced the retreat by the officials after some passengers disrupted a Qantas flight when they learned that Puvaneethan was on the Darwin-bound plane and, possibly, heading back to jail and torture.
He was taken from the detention centre at 7 am today. Activists, who had been camping outside the centre, followed him to the airport, where they handed out leaflets to passengers at the boarding gate outlining his desperate situation.
One protester, 21-year-old university student Jasmine Pilbrow, who had a ticket for the flight, then explained his circumstances to passengers on board. By this time, he was sitting on the plane, guarded by security officers. (Red flag)
