Tamil to be deported from Australia, as Britain halts removals

Immigration authorities have issued marching orders to a failed Tamil asylum seeker from Australia - only the second to be forcibly deported as boats continue to leave from Sri Lanka.

The decision comes as Britain's High Court has ordered a stop to the deportation of Tamils over fears they could be tortured at home.

The Tamil man, held in Melbourne, has been told he will be sent back to Sri Lanka on October 31.

The deportation notice also states he will be liable for the cost of removal, with an invoice to be delivered before he departs.

The man - who the National Times has chosen not to name - is in his early 40s and arrived in Australia in February 2010.

He claimed his brother was a separatist Tamil Tiger fighter, killed in the bloody decades-long campaign for independence in Sri Lanka.

The man had been released into the community but has exhausted legal appeals for protection.

The case follows the deportation of Tamil man Dayan Anthony in July, who was returned to Sri Lanka by Australian immigration authorities despite a last minute appeal to the United Nations.

The court in Britain has halted the deportation of several Tamils to hear an appeal they face torture in Sri Lanka, according to a report in the Guardian.

The court has stopped the deportation to allow British authorities to respond to the claims.

The man in the latest case in Australia was taken into custody last week and has been told he will not be permitted visitors at the airport.

He has refused to sign the deportation orders and been told he will be escorted onto the departing flight.

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