{"id":63671,"date":"2017-02-23T04:17:55","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T11:17:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/?p=63671"},"modified":"2017-02-23T04:18:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T11:18:16","slug":"hong-kong-asylum-seekers-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-in-fear-after-reports-sri-lankan-agents-travelled-to-city-to-look-for-them","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/2017\/02\/23\/hong-kong-asylum-seekers-who-sheltered-edward-snowden-in-fear-after-reports-sri-lankan-agents-travelled-to-city-to-look-for-them\/","title":{"rendered":"Hong Kong asylum seekers who sheltered Edward Snowden \u2018in fear\u2019 after reports Sri Lankan agents travelled to city to look for them"},"content":{"rendered":"

Raquel Carvalho<\/a>\u00a0South China Morning Post<\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

\u2018I don\u2019t know what they would do, because they are cruel,\u2019 says father of two<\/p>\n

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The asylum seekers who sheltered former US intelligence contractor turned whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong have said they fear for their safety, after reports that<\/a> Sri Lankan police had been in the city looking for them.<\/p>\n

I felt very scared and nervous… maybe they can arrest me… I don\u2019t know what they would do, because they are cruel,\u201d Supun Thilina Kellapatha said, describing his feelings after he was told about the presence of Sri Lankan agents in the city where he has filed a protection claim.<\/p>\n

\"RaquelRaquel Carvalho<\/a><\/em><\/span><\/h2>\n

Snowden lawyer denies Russia will hand over whistle-blower to Trump<\/a><\/p>\n

I don\u2019t feel stable. I walk on the road, I don\u2019t know if the Criminal Investigation Department is there,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

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In 2013, Snowden \u2013 who had just leaked sensitive US intelligence files \u2013 hid out in Hong Kong, before heading to Russia, where he lives under asylum himself.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0A Sri Lankan family of four \u2013 Kellapatha, his wife Nadeeka Dilrukshi Nonis and their two children \u2013 and Ajith Pushpakumara, a former soldier, sheltered him. They are all waiting for the government to screen their protection claims.<\/div>\n

They spoke on Thursday at a press conference organised by two pan-democrat legislators, Charles Mok and James To Kun-sun, who called on the government to investigate the case and protect the family.<\/p>\n

Asylum seekers who sheltered Snowden at risk of being deported, lawyer warns<\/a><\/p>\n

The five, who said they were afraid of being snatched back to their home country, planned to report the case to the police. Their lawyer, Robert Tibbo, said that they already reported the situation to the Immigration Department.<\/p>\n

Tibbo said multiple sources in Hong Kong, including other asylum seekers and Sri Lankan residents, said agents from the Sri Lankan Police Criminal Investigation Department approached them in two separate visits, one in November and another at the end of December.<\/p>\n

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\u00a0The Canadian barrister said agents had had files on, and photos of, the asylum seekers.<\/div>\n

One of the five asylum seekers also reported that officials in Sri Lanka had harassed, questioned and threatened their immediate family members in the country.<\/p>\n

According to Tibbo, the officials asked the relatives about the asylum seekers\u2019 addresses and phone numbers as well as of their friends in Hong Kong.<\/p>\n

The identity of the refugees, who housed Snowden for about two weeks, was only revealed last September.<\/p>\n

A UN Committee Against Torture report updated in January called for institutional reform of the security sector in Sri Lanka. It noted previous investigations that showed the country\u2019s security forces had committed widespread or systematic torture, enforced disappearances and other serious human rights violations.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Raquel Carvalho\u00a0South China Morning Post \u2018I don\u2019t know what they would do, because they are cruel,\u2019 says father of two The asylum seekers who sheltered former US intelligence contractor turned whistle-blower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong have said they fear for their safety, after reports that Sri Lankan police had been in the city looking […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-63671","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-security","category-terrorism"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63671","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=63671"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/63671\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=63671"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=63671"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lankaweb.com\/news\/items\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=63671"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}