Tamil Tiger crew member can apply for refugee status

File photo / Bay of Plenty Times

A Sri Lankan citizen who crewed a boat filled with Tamil Tiger armaments has been given the right by the Supreme Court to apply for refugee status in New Zealand, after it rejected an appeal by the Crown against an earlier ruling giving him the right.

The man, who arrived in New Zealand in 2001, had been chief engineer on a cargo vessel owned by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (Tamil Tigers) carrying weapons and ammunition to Sri Lanka.

It was stopped by the Indian navy, but scuttled by crew who included Tamil Tiger soldiers. The man and several other crew members were convicted by an Indian Court of criminal charges.

The Crown argued that as a crew member, the man was complicit in atrocities committed by the Tamil Tigers and in the sinking of the vessel, and was therefore disqualified from being recognised as a refugee under the UN Refugee convention and New Zealand law.

However, the Supreme Court decided that the man's activities were not linked to Tamil Tiger atrocities, as the arms went down with the ship.

Any crime related to the boat sinking was of a political nature, which did not disqualify the man from holding refugee status, it found.

The Refugee Appeals Authority is now considering the man's application for refugee status.

- NZPA