The families have said they plan to appeal the government’s decision. File photo: RTHK
US intelligence whistleblower Edward Snowden has criticised the Hong Kong government for rejecting the asylum claims of refugees who sheltered him in the city in 2013, calling it "a transparent injustice from the very people that they asked to protect them".
The refugees - a Sri Lankan family, a Sri Lankan man and a Filipino mother with a daughter - were told on Monday that their asylum bids had failed because there were no substantial grounds to believe they would face danger in their countries.
However, Snowden said on Wednesday these families are being singled out.
"What they're facing is a transparent injustice from the very people that they asked to protect them. We don’t know who is behind it exactly, but someone in the Hong Kong government has decided they want to make these families disappear immediately – no matter (what) the cost," Snowden said in an online video message.
The asylum applications were rejected by the Director of Immigration, but in his video message, Snowden criticised the Security Secretary, Lai Tung-kwok, saying that if Lai "allows it to happen, it should be seen as the defining moment of his career".
Lawyers representing the asylum seekers say the decisions reached by the Director of Immigration were completely unreasonable and they plan to appeal.
The fact that Snowden sought shelter with the asylum seekers became well known across the world when a film about his revelations on National Security Agency surveillance came out last year.
The family from Sri Lanka said the publicity surrounding their involvement led to their relatives back home being questioned, harassed and threatened by the Sri Lankan authorities. They also said they believed agents from Sri Lanka had been sent to Hong Kong to try to locate them.
在線雷達
發表於 2017-5-18 07:26:04
廣播
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超級提昇
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收嗲鳥
油顏色
發表於 2017-5-18 10:39:46
