Canada Supreme Court affirms acquittal of Tamil men charged with human smuggling over Sun Sea arrival

<p>The Supreme Court of Canada has effectively upheld the acquittal of three Tamils who were charged with human smuggling following the arrival of a ship carrying hundreds of Tamil asylum seekers to British Columbia.</p> <p>In a decision on Thursday the court rejected the government’s application for an appeal hearing on the case.</p> <p>In August 2010, the Canadian navy intercepted the cargo ship MV Sun Sea carrying 492 Tamil asylum seekers&nbsp;from Sri Lanka.</p> <p>&nbsp;Lesly Emmanuel, Nadarajah Mahendran and&nbsp;Thampeernayagam Rajaratnam&nbsp;were charged with violating the Immigrant and Refugee Protection Act by organising, inducing, aiding or abetting the illegal entry of people into Canada.</p> <p>The Crown alleged the men were part of a human-smuggling operation linked to organised crime.</p> <p>The three men were acquitted in early 2017 by a jury in British Columbia’s Supreme Court.</p> <p>The Supreme Court of Canada gave no reasons for refusing to hear the case.</p>