Roy came to UK in the summer of 2001, fearing persecution in Sri Lanka. He didn't claim asylum on arrival as he had a visa & felt safe just being in the country. He was detained in August 2009 after finishing a prison sentence for a crime he committed over 8 years ago. Because of good behavior the prison authorities recommended him for D-cat/open prison. However, upon completing his sentence he was taken to Haslar and then to Harmondsworth Detention Centre where he has been held since. Roy has been held nearly a year after the sentence he completed and during that time he has been refused bail 3 times. It is unjust to deny his right family/private life and imprison a person when they have served the sentence for their crime.

Unjust imprisonment

Roy is 31 years old and came to the UK from Sri Lanka as he feared the Sri Lankan Authorities. He eventually claimed asylum in prison but the Home Office refused his asylum & human rights application and served him with a Deportation Order. Roy has a British partner & his brother living in the UK. Roy is Tamil, an ethnic minority in Sri Lanka. He was suspected of having connections / being an informer to the LTTE. His return would likely be immediately noticed by the Sri Lankan authorities and he fears the treatment he will receive at their hands if forced to return.

Roy was detained after serving a prison sentence for a first offence. Roy is not coping with his detention and his family partner and I are extremely worried about his fluctuating state of mind. His partner and I are providing him with mental support by visiting him and calling him frequently. An Independent Psychiatrist [Dr Amlan Basu] has diagnosed that Roy suffers from Severe Post-Traumatic-Stress-Disorder & Severe Depression. Another Independent Organisation [Dr Frank Arnold, Medical Justice] has confirmed that there is a reasonably likelihood that Roy was subjected to torture. The Detention Centre Healthcare lacks provision to treat his condition. Roy is taking 5 different medications daily and as a result his level of concentration & memory has been damaged. His overall health condition has deteriorated and the detention has been detrimental to Roy’s mental health. However, rather than being released the UKBA denying his rights to be with his family and to get proper treatment.

A Part of the UK Community

Before his arrest, Roy was an exemplary member of the community. Not only has Roy lived in the UK since 2001 but he held a student visa for 3 years and during that time he worked part time for various employers and paid his taxes. The UK is Roy’s home and community, a community to which he has positively contributed. Whilst living in London, Roy has made friends with a wide variety of local people, he worked voluntarily to gain accounting experience and established an Estate Agent Business [now dissolved] with one of his friend to better his future and his family. He is a regular at St Anthony’s Parish in Edgware.

At the end of his prison sentence he also received notice for his exemplary behaviour and his Probation Service report stated that his risk of reconviction is LOW. He has gained a voluntary placement to work with British Red Cross through which he could contribute to the local community which has become home for him. Roy has no family in Sri Lanka and no longer has any links with the country, a country which is still experiencing such duress that on May 2010 the Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and International Crisis Group have called on UN and the member states to authorize an independent international investigation into alleged war crimes in Sri Lanka.

Roy's 'Double Punishment'

Roy is one of the hundreds of detainees experiencing indefinite detention- when a person is detained for over a year. According to the Detained Lives campaign, a significant amount of those experiencing indefinite detention, also like Roy, have finished prison sentences for crimes such as working illegally or petty theft.

“It may be that an assumption has developed that foreigners with past criminal convictions do not merit consideration of their right to liberty. Such an assumption is fundamentally discriminatory: detainees have finished their sentences. If they were British they would be released, being considered to have paid their debt to society. The UK has long practiced the double punishment of foreigners who are deported after serving their sentences. We now see a radically new development, amounting to triple punishment: foreign ex-offenders who have served their time in prison, as well as permanently losing any status in the UK, are deprived of their liberty under immigration law for periods often far exceeding those of their original sentences”
(Detained Lives: the real cost of indefinite immigration detention, 2009, introduction).

Support Roy

Roy is currently challenging his case in Tribunal Court. Please be one of the many to support Roy!

Contact his MP or the Home Secretary. You can write your own letter to fax, email or post or click below to download sample letters to use.

Click here for a model letter for Roy's MP, Sarah Teather.

Click here for a model letter for the Home Secretary, Theresa May.

Sarah Teather MP

London Office;
1 High Road, Willesden Green, London, NW10 2TE
Tel:020 8459 0455
Fax:020 8830 3280
Email:[email protected]

Westminster Office;
Sarah Teather MP
House of Commons, London, SW1A 0AA

Tel: 020 7219 2284

Fax: 020 7219 0041

Email: [email protected]

Rt. Hon Theresa May, MP

Secretary of State for the Home Office,
2 Marsham Street, London, SW1 4DF
Fax: 020 8760 3132

Thank you for your time and consideration to this plea for support for humanity to be shown to Roy Prashanthan Francis who could suffer untold misery and abuse if returned to Sri Lanka because of various factors, mainly of his Tamil Ethnicity. Please support to revoke his Deportation Order, to end his unlawful detention and to review his case with a view to granting some form of refugee protection.