9th Circuit Orders Sri Lankan Freed

Theyoung farmer from the Indian Ocean country of Sri Lanka wanted only to get toCanada to escape the torture. Instead, he has landed in the north Los Angelessuburb of Lancaster. Accused of being a terrorist in his native country, AhilanNadarajah left in September 2001 and was guided by smugglers through Thailand,South Africa, Brazil and Mexico. He intended to sneak into the United States onhis way to Toronto but was arrested at the border.

He was twice granted political asylum by a U.S. immigration judge, but theDepartment of Homeland Security branded him a national security threat. Hespent nearly 4-1/2 years in a U.S. jail while the government tried to deporthim to Sri Lanka.

He was freed March 21 after the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals called hislengthy detention illegal in a bristling 37-page opinion that took aim at theBush administration’s controversial practice of indefinitely detainingimmigrants accused of terrorism but not charged. The three-judge panel saidkeeping him jailed violated a 2001 U.S. Supreme Court ruling against indefinitedetention in immigration cases.

The 9th Circuit’s opinion is available here(PDF).

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