Tamil refugee’s parents denied visa for son’s funeral
The government has refused a plea from the Tamil community to allow the family of 29-year-old asylum seeker Leo Seemanpillai to enter the country to attend his funeral.
Immigration minister Scott Morrison said that Australian visa laws could not accommodate Leo’s parents, who do not have passports. The couple, who live in a refugee camp in India, desperately tried to obtain emergency passports, but were denied any help from Indian, Sri Lankan and Australian authorities.
In a further despicable ruling, Leo’s brother, who does hold a passport, was told by the Australian High Commission that he would not be granted a visa to attend the funeral because it didn’t believe he has any incentive to return once arrived.
Leo, who was on a bridging visa, set himself on fire in the Geelong suburb of Newtown. Like many Tamil refugees, he was terrified of being deported back to persecution in Sri Lanka where it is not uncommon for Tamils to disappear into the Rajapaksa regime’s secret torture chambers.
“If I’m deported back, torture is certain because I’m a Tamil”, read one of his journal entries. Tragically, the cruelty of life on a bridging visa became too much.
“Leo experienced so much trauma in his short life. He was tortured in Sri Lanka, intimidated by police in India and sexually tortured while being held in an Indonesian detention centre,” said Aran Mylvaganam, a spokesperson for the Tamil Refugee Council and friend of Leo. “All he wanted was some peace and freedom in his life. That’s why he came to Australia. But the very real fear of rejection here, fanned by the fact that Mr Morrison kept on saying Tamils would be sent back to Sri Lanka, was all too much for him.”
On his good days, Leo managed to muster hope for the future. “In the midst of rejection stand tall. Life is hope”, reads another of his journal entries.
He gave selflessly to others, volunteering at his local church and his last act was to donate his organs. Yet, the government’s callous treatment of refugees denied him any peace in this life and has now refused his parents the opportunity to pay their last respects to their son.
Morrison claims that he made a “quite unusual offer” to repatriate Leo’s remains to India or Sri Lanka. This is deceptive and cruel. The government knows full well the dangerous situation for Tamil refugees in these countries. Its treatment of a man who had already endured so much is beyond appalling. What they are doing to his family only adds insult to the injury.
