Sri Lankan asylum-seekers plead for release in Canada

Handcuffed and shackled in leg chains, more Sri Lankan asylum-seekers were back before immigration officials in Vancouver on Monday, pleading for release from detention.

But proving their identities continued to be a significant impediment for most of the men, who were among a group of 76 Tamils apprehended on a mysterious ship off Vancouver Island earlier this month.

Several of the men arrived with no authentic documents to prove who they are.

In one case, a man told Canadian Border Service Agency officers he'd surrendered his own Sri Lankan passport, national identity card and driver's licence to an "agent" who arranged to take the migrants to Canada for a sum of money. In exchange, the man was given an Indian passport.

Since the ship arrived in B.C. on October 17, Canadian officials have been screening the migrants, and Canadian Immigration Minister Jason Kenney's office has said that the government will exclude any found to have criminal or terrorist ties.

In particular, authorities are worried about possible links to the Tigers a registered terrorist organization in Canada.

Indeed, at least one of the asylum seekers is the subject of an Interpol notice for his alleged role in a Tigers smuggling ring.

That isn't the case for the majority of the men, however, their Canadian supporters have repeatedly insisted.

"In my opinion, they all appear to be polite, well-groomed young men," said lawyer Lee Rankin, who has met and interviewed several of them.

Fifteen of the men were appeared before the Immigration and Refugee Board on Monday during the second week of detention hearings. The Vancouver Sun