A man questioned over the 2019 Easter Sunday bombings in Sri Lanka is seeking asylum in the UK, it is claimed. The man, who is from Sri Lanka, reportedly sought asylum in the UK for both himself and his wife, saying he would be “persecuted” if he went back home. 

It is claimed the man, who has been granted an anonymity order, arrived in Britain months after he was arrested by Sri Lankan authorities in January 2022, under suspicion he had been involved in the harrowing Easter Sunday attacks which killed 269 people. Reportedly, two weeks after the man arrived in the UK, Sri Lanka issued a warrant for his arrest. The terror suspect’s claim for asylum was purportedly rejected by the UK in April last year.

According to the Daily Mail, an initial appeal against the Home Office’s decision was refused by a First-tier immigration tribunal judge in March earlier this year.

The man has since been given another opportunity to claim asylum after alleging the earlier judge had been “biased”.

A Deputy Upper Tribunal judge found the earlier hearing had made a series of errors.

However, Judge Claire Burns rejected the man’s claims that the initial judge was “highly prejudiced”, saying: “I find that there is no merit in this ground whatsoever.”

The case is to be heard at a First-tier Tribunal at a later date, per the Mail. 

The Easter Sunday attacks were carried out by a group of suicide bombers across Sri Lanka on April 21 2019. Three of the blasts were at churches full of worshippers celebrating Easter. One of the churches was in the capital Colombo where three luxury hotels were also struck.

A housing complex and guest house in the city’s suburbs were targeted too. Eight Britons were among the dead, with hundreds also injured. 

Authorities in Sri Lanka said a local militant group with links to so-called Islamic State (IS) were behind the attacks.

IS claimed responsibility, declaring the bombers had pledged allegiance to the group.