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25 March 2010
Issue: 7410 / Categories: Case law , Law reports
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Immigration—Refugee—Definition of war criminal

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R (on the application of JS (Sri Lanka)) v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2010] UKSC 15, [2010] All ER (D) 151 (Mar)

Supreme Court, Lord Hope DP, Lord Rodger, Lord Walker, Lord Brown and Lord Kerr SCJJ, 17 March 2010

The Supreme Court has considered the proper interpretation and application of Art 1F(a) of the Refugee Convention.

Rabinder Singh QC and Shivani Jegarajah (instructed by K Ravi) for the claimant.Tim Eicke and Jasbir Dhillon (instructed by the Treasury Solicitor) for the secretary of state.

The claimant was a Sri Lankan Tamil. In 1992, at the age of 10, he became a member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the following year joining the LTTE’s intelligence division. He went on to be the leader of a platoon and was wounded in engagements with the Sri Lankan army. From early 2004 to September 2006, he served as second in command of the combat unit of the intelligence division. In October 2006 he was sent incognito to Colombo to await further instructions. While

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