Sri Lankan asylum seekers fear removal by Australian immigration
October 30 2009 by Liam Clifford
The drama with the occupied Australian customs ship continues as the Sri Lankans aboard worry about being forcibly removed.
A Sri Lankan now living in Australia has said that having been in contact with some of the 78 asylum seekers currently onboard a Australian customs ship, they are growing increasingly scared of being forcibly removed.
The Sri Lankan claims come as the Navy stopped another boat near Ashmore Reef yesterday. The 34 passengers and 4 crew are likely to be taken to Christmas Island so that they can be processed.
The Oceanic Viking situation has brought a standoff with Australian immigration and no resolution in near sight, the 68 Sri Lankan men, 5 women and 5 children aboard the boat are said to be scared about the consequences and what will happen next.
The Government continues to grapple with the issue as does the Australian immigration authorities, the Opposition party estimates it is costing the Australian taxpayers a total of $75,000 a day.
The Sri Lankan, a Tamil refugee advocate, says he has had mobile phone conversations with the Sri Lankans, however communication was discontinued on Wednesday evening.
He believes that the mobile phone has been found and confiscated. He states that during the last conversation with the people aboard he was told their was Indonesian civilians were aboard threatening to remove the Sri Lankans.
However Australian immigration denies this and a spokesman for the Home Affairs Minister Brendan O'Connor states there are no Indonesians who are currently on board the Oceanic Viking.
Australian officials are trying to coerce the Sri Lankans to wilfully disembark but the Tamil advocate says they won’t do that, until they are taken to Australia.
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