The Michigan court of appeal, has decided to deny Jean Wyclef Ndayisaba exile and he is likely to be deported soon to Rwanda and be tried for his possible participation in 1994 Tutsi genocide.
Another option is to deport him Burkina Faso where UNHCR had managed to acquire him a refugee status. he has lost a asylum seeker cases he filed in 2008.
A ruling published January 31 in the US State of Michigan maintains earlier rulings by two lower courts which ruled that the grounds of his asylum application were baseless.
In asylum documents filed in June 2008, Ndayisaba claimed that he was fearful of his life from the Rwandan government because he had testified at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in the defence of Elizaphan Ntakirutimana. He also made several other allegations, which were all dismissed.
Ntakirutimana was convicted at the ICTR for genocide. The elderly Adventist clergyman served his 10-year sentence and was released in December 2006 and continued to live in Arusha. He died early the following year aged 82 years.
Ndayisaba had testified for Ntakirutimana because they belonged to the same sect, and Ndayisaba had been an active member of the congregation.
The decision to go to USA for exile was an advice from Ramsey Clark, the former USA general prosecutor and an advocate for Ntakirutimana.
Before being denied the exile, the decision had been refused by 2 courts in Michigan state for the reason were not reliable.
After that decision Ndayisaba is likely to be deported to Rwanda where he is accused of 1994 Tutsi Genocide crimes or Burkina Faso where he was allowed a refuge.
Though Ndayisaba was attrubuting innocence to him, Pastor Elizaphan Ntakirutimana was later proved guilty and was given a 10 year jail which he finished in 2006 and died in 2007 at 82 years old.
ENDS
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