SRI LANKA: PAKISTANI CHRISTIANS DEPORTED DESPITE POSSIBLE DEATH SENTENCE

United Nations officials said Sri Lanka has begun sending Pakistani asylum seekers, including Christians, back to their home country where they may face the death penalty for blasphemy against Islam.
The United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) complained that at least 88 Pakistanis have been sent home since 1 August, after Sri Lankan authorities seized their passports and asylum-seeker certificates.
“By sending these people back, the government of Sri Lanka is in breach of its obligations under international law concerning the principle of no-forced-returns,” said the UNHCR.
Sri Lankan authorities have denied violating any such laws, saying that the country “is not a signatory to the 1951 U.N. Refugee Convention.” Sri Lanka's government reportedly argued there was “evidence of Pakistanis committing crimes and bringing illness, specifically malaria, into the country.”
On 1 September, a Sri Lankan court agreed and reportedly gave permission for authorities to continue deporting Christians and other Pakistani asylum seekers, rejecting concerns expressed by a rights lawyer.
Lakshan Dias, a Sri Lankan lawyer, filed a petition on 15 August to secure an interim suspension of deportations. Dias represents a Pakistani Christian woman who said her relatives were being sent back to Pakistan before the UNHCR could properly assess their claims for asylum.
“However, after hearing the case, the Court of Appeal ruled in favour of the government and withdrew the interim order,” said advocacy group Barnabas Fund, which closely followed the case.
The group added it was concerned about the future of deported Christians and other believers. “Christians may be forced to flee Pakistan after false accusations of blasphemy [against Islam] which put them at risk of the death sentence and violence from radical Muslims.”