A group of refugees who sheltered fugitive whistleblower Edward Snowden in Hong Kong are facing deportation after the city’s authorities rejected their bid for protection, their lawyer said on Monday.
The impoverished Philippine and Sri lankan refugees helped the former National Security Agency contractor evade authorities in 2013 by hiding him in their cramped homes after he initiated one of the largest data leaks in US history. They have spent years hoping the government would recognise their cases and save them from being sent back to their home countries, where they say they were persecuted.
However, immigration authorities rejected their protection claims today saying there were “no substantial grounds” for believing they would be at risk if they went home.”The decisions are completely unreasonable,” their lawyer Robert Tibbo told reporters, saying the procedures had been “manifestly unfair” towards his clients.