Nadarajah

Background

Ahilan Nadarajah, a native of Sri Lanka, was detained upon arrival in the United States in October 2001. Nadarajah ini- tially was granted parole but was unable to pay the $20,000 bond. Nadarajah filed applications for asylum, withholding of removal, and relief under the Convention Against Torture (“CAT”), based on his membership in the Tamil ethnic minor- ity. Twice Immigration Judges (“IJs”) granted Nadarajah asy- lum, but the government appealed, and Nadarajah remained in detention. In August 2004, Nadarajah’s counsel attempted to pay the bond, but the government refused to parole Nadarajah according to the 2001 terms. In September 2004, Nadarajah’s requests for parole were denied on the ground that he no lon- ger met the bond criteria, and Nadarajah filed this petition for a writ of habeas corpus in the district court.

After the district court habeas corpus petition was pending more than one year, Nadarajah filed a Ninth Circuit petition for a writ of mandamus to compel a disposition. The manda- mus petition was assigned docket number 05-75841. After the mandamus petition was filed, the district court denied Nadara- jah’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus, and…