NY judge asks whether Tamil Tigers are threat to US
October 16, 2010 09:52 am
Federal prosecutors who
charged Karunakaran Kandasamy with supporting terrorism say the answer is yes. And
they say he should get a stiff sentence approaching 20 years for raising money
for the separatist group, which fought a 25-year war with the Sri Lankan
government.
But a judge recently
expressed his doubts.
The case against the
jailed Kandasamy doesn´t neatly fit the definition of "a more obvious or
garden variety terrorism case, where ... our security interests are compromised
and the safety of our citizenry is in jeopardy," U.S. District Judge
Raymond Dearie said earlier this month at Kandasamy´s scheduled sentencing, which
was postponed.
"Do we simply wave
the red flag of terrorism and impose the maximum sentence?"
Assistant U.S. Attorney
Jeffrey Knox argued the Tamil Tigers had earned a State Department designation
as a terrorist organization in part by putting
The Tamil Tigers
pioneered and perfected technology for suicide bombings, Knox said. That
technology "was borrowed and copied and sold on some occasions to other
terrorist organizations — organizations like al-Qaida, that directly target the
United States, organizations like Hamas and Hezbollah and others in the region,"
he said.
Internal documents show
the Tamil Tigers considered other terror groups as fellow freedom fighters, and
had a policy of "sharing black market arms shipments and explosive
shipments, the financial system, bank accounts," he said.
The judge put off
sentencing after Kandasamy — who has battled a spinal problem and other serious
ailments since his arrest — asked for mercy.
"I love this
country and its soil," the 54-year-old former cab driver said through an
interpreter. "I´m sick and I´m afraid I´ll never live to be free with my
family again."
No new sentencing date
was set. A spokesman for the U.S. Attorney´s office in
Kandasamy´s case has
inched forward as events in his native country took a historic turn.
Last year, the Tamil
Tigers admitted defeat in their 25-year war with the Sri Lankan government. The
clash killed more than 70,000 people, including reclusive rebel leader
Velupillai Prabhakaran.
The rebels, who once
controlled a de facto state in the island nation´s north, had been fighting
since 1983 for a separate state for minority Tamils after decades of oppression
by the Sinhalese majority. Responsible for hundreds of suicide attacks — including
the 1991 assassination of former Indian Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi — the Tamil
Tigers were shunned internationally and branded terrorists by the U.S., European
Union and India.
Federal authorities in
Some were accused of
helping to buy explosives, missiles, anti-aircraft guns and other weapons, and
with trying to bribe
Kandasamy and other defendants
have pleaded guilty to terrorism charges, with some receiving sentences of 25
years.
Defence attorney Charles
Ross has argued that his client´s punishment should be less than five years. A 20-year
term, he said, would be "an almost knee-jerk maximum sentence" that
ignores the complexities of
At the recent hearing, Kandasamy
told the judge he fled
Once Kandasamy received
political asylum, his lawyer said, his main goal was to make enough money to
start bringing his loved ones to the
"He was not
primarily concerned with arming a terrorist organization," Ross said. "He
was primarily concerned, your honour, with helping his people."
Prosecutors counter that
Kandasamy and others were well aware that their fundraising was fueling
violence. They say there´s evidence that he helped raise millions of dollars
for the Tamil Tigers, and that he went to
"There are two
sides to this war, no question about it," Knox said. "But (Kandasamy)
is not blameless." – (The Canadian Press)