Sri Lankan asylum-seeker 'Sam' says he was beaten and tortured with iron bars while locked in a cell in his home country for six days.
Suspected by the Sri Lankan Government of being a terrorist, the medical orderly eventually escaped and fled the island, but was picked up by SAR immigration officers while on his way to Canada.
A member of the Tamil minority, which is involved in a bloody civil war with the Government, Sam is part of the new face of Hong Kong's refugee community.
Instead of arriving by rickety boat or climbing mountain ranges to flee their homeland, he arrived on a plane, having paid US$10,000 (HK$78,000) for a forged visa.
He met his Sri Lankan partner 'Jill', an accountant, when he arrived in Hong Kong in March this year. They have asked for their names to be withheld to protect their families in Sri Lanka.
Jill and her young daughter have been in Hong Kong for a year and were caught with fake travel documents while in transit to Canada.
Before meeting Jill, Sam, 36, lived at Chungking Mansions for a month while waiting for his forged visa to Canada. But immigration officers at Chek Lap Kok recognised the fake.
