CCPR/C/106/D/1912/2009 requested the State party not to remove the author to Sri Lanka while the communication was under consideration by the Committee. Facts as presented by the author 2.1 The author is an ethnic Tamil born in the village of Valvettithurai, the village in which the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) have their origins (Jaffna area). In July 1983, during a business trip to Colombo, the author was arrested by the police on suspicion of membership of the LTTE. During the interrogation, he was ill-treated and was only released with the help of a Sinhala fish merchant. From 1984 to 1987, the author ran a fishing business in his village. On 23 June 1987, the author’s father was killed and when claiming his body, the author was detained and beaten by the army for six days. He was again arrested and detained by the army in 1989. The detentions of 1987 and 1989 as well as the torture he underwent are attested by a certificate of the Sri Lankan Red Cross Society dated 17 December 2004. 2 In 1990, when the LTTE took control of the Jaffna Peninsula, the author was approached by them to support the LTTE, which he refused. Nevertheless, he was forced to help them construct bunkers. 2.2 In 1994, while on his way to Valalai on business, the author was arrested by the army, hit with a gun butt, kicked and then intimidated to refrain from reporting the incident. In October 1995, as the LTTE had ordered all civilians to leave Jaffna, the author and his family fled to Mannar and stayed there in a refugee shelter. In July 1997, during crossfire between the LTTE and the regular army, the author was arrested in Mannar and kept for nine days in detention. 3 In August 1999, the army arrested more than 1,000 persons, including the author, who was threatened to be killed if he did not disclose the location of LTTE camps. In May 2000, the author was imprisoned again by the army in Mannar for 10 days. He was beaten with plastic pipes, barbed wire and boots, which injured him on the chest (attested by a medical certificate). 4 In October 2001, the author returned to his village with his wife and son. As the army suspected that the family had accommodated the LTTE, they detained them for five days for further investigation. On 23 September 2002, the author was detained by the LTTE for five days and was accused of being unpatriotic. He was released under the condition that he supported their endeavour; otherwise his son would be taken away. 2.3 Following this incident, the author had sleeping problems and suffered from depression. The author started to hide from the LTTE, but he was also sought after by the army. With the help of his wife’s brother, the author and his family moved to Colombo, where an agent helped the author to flee the country. He left Sri Lanka on 14 November 2002 and arrived in Canada on 30 November 2002. 2.4 On 22 June 2004, the author’s claim for asylum was rejected by the Refugee Protection Division of the Immigration and Refugee Board (IRB). The IRB based its decision on the official version of events in Sri Lanka and therefore rejected his version as lacking credibility. On 29 October 2004, his application for leave to seek judicial review of this decision was rejected without reasons by the Federal Court. On 14 September 2007, the 2 3 4 During the domestic proceedings in Canada, while contesting the credibility of some of the author’s allegations, the State party authorities accepted the veracity of the report provided by the Sri Lankan Red Cross Society dated 17 December 2004. The author does not specify whether he was arrested by the army or the LTTE. The author has provided a medical report established by the “Centre de santé et de services sociaux de la Montagne” in Montreal dated 26 June 2009, which states that the author alleged having been beaten on his chest with barbed wire; and that he has physical signs of ill-treatment which seem compatible with the author’s story. 3