REFUGEE

The Singapore-based terrorism expert who asserts Tamil terrorists were aboard a ship that brought 76 Sri Lankan migrants to Canada will be called to explain his allegations under cross-examination.

Rohan Gunaratna, who heads a terrorism think tank at Nanyang University in Singapore, has been the chief adviser to federal investigators trying to determine the identities of the migrant men, who arrived off Canada's West Coast in a decrepit cargo ship on October 17.

The young men are all Tamils from Sri Lanka and they intend to make refugee claims, but Prof. Gunaratna has said some may be Tamil Tigers. The Tigers are viewed by Canada as a terrorist organization.

All but one of the migrants are still behind bars and, for weeks, Canada Border officials have urged the Immigration and Refugee Board to keep them in custody while they probe who among them are refugees and who could be terrorists.

The government has relied heavily on advice from Prof. Gunaratna, who submitted a 109-page report outlining his suspicions.

Now, lawyers for three of the Tamil migrants are challenging Prof. Gunaratna's credentials as a terrorism expert. At detention hearings yesterday, two lawyers demanded that he appear for cross-examination.

Toronto lawyer Krassina Kostadinov said she wants a chance to question Prof. Gunaratna about his conclusions.

“We have very, very serious concerns about his credentials, his statements and his qualifications,” Ms. Kostadinov said after the hearing.

Prof. Gunaratna is no stranger to controversy. Since 2001, he's been called to provide expert testimony at hearings and trials around the globe. However, some U.S. officials have in the past criticized the hawkish scholar, saying he panders to the opinions of those who hire him.

Among other things, Prof. Gunaratna has said the ship that brought the migrants to Canada was previously used by the Tamil Tigers, possibly to transport weapons. Citing unnamed sources, he also claimed that two Tamil Tigers were aboard the migrants' vessel.

Government lawyers said finding Prof. Gunaratna may be easier said than done. But two adjudicators noted that the professor has been widely quoted in the media so he can't be that hard to pin down.

Adjudicator Lynda Mackie urged government lawyers to find Prof. Gunaratna to explain his findings.

“Some of the most prejudicial information presented to date concerning the migrants is contained in Mr. Gunaratna's report,” Ms. Mackie told one detention hearing. “I don't think it's unreasonable to make him available for cross-examination. We routinely do this by video or teleconferencing.”

The two cases were adjourned until Monday to give officials time to summon Prof. Gunaratna by phone.

The detention hearings began days after the migrants' boat arrived. Their lawyers have asked that their clients be released; most have Tamil relatives in the Toronto area. The migrants' names can't be used because of a publication ban.

Gradually, a clearer picture has emerged of the government's suspicions about the migrants' identities and their possible links to terrorism.

The most incriminating allegations have come from Prof. Gunaratna, but there is also an Interpol arrest warrant for one of the migrants, who is accused of supplying the Tigers with electronic equipment.

Canadian officials who boarded the ship after it was seized also found traces of explosive residue on the garments of two migrants.

However, it's clear border officials don't have all the answers about the migrants, the ship and its controversial origins.

“Was it a troop ship? Did it carry explosives,” government lawyer Ron Yamauchi asked during one detention hearing. “We don't know these things.”

Sri Lanka is emerging from a long civil war that ended earlier this year. The Tamil Tigers are the military arm of the separatist faction that sought to create its own Tamil state. Over the years, hundreds of thousands of Tamils have fled to Canada and most have settled in the Toronto area.