Fed: High Court rejects final asylum appeal
CANBERRA, Aug 8 AAP - An elderly Sri Lankan doctor and his wife today lost their finalavenue of appeal in their bid for refugee status.
The High Court upheld an appeal by the Minister of Immigration against the FederalCourt decision granting asylum to Dr Nadasara Rajamanikkam and Mrs Balambikai Rajamanikkam.
Both arrived in Australia in May 1996, residing with one of their daughters. They appliedfor protection visas, arguing they would face persecution if they returned to Sri Lanka.
Dr Rajamanikkam, a Sri Lankan of Tamil ethnicity, said he would face danger from bothTamil militants and from Sri Lankan authorities who arrested him in 1996.
The Refugee Review Tribunal rejected the claim, saying he had lived in many parts ofthe island, had enjoyed a long medical career and received a government pension.
The Federal Court overturned that decision.
In its decision today, the High Court in turn rejected the Federal Court decision.
High Court chief justice Murray Gleeson said the reasons the tribunal gave for rejectingthe asylum application were plausible and had not been shown to be in error.
"There was nothing in the evidence or other material that compelled a conclusion thatthe first respondent (Dr Rajamanikkam) would be persecuted if he returned to Sri Lanka,"
he said in his judgment.
AAP mb/jnb/sb
KEYWORD: DOCTOR
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