Aug 24, Colombo: Two Sri Lankans have appealed to Australia's High Court to reconsider them for asylum and challenged as unfair the handling of their refugee claims offshore, the Australian media reported today.

According to media reports, the two members of the Tamil ethnic group were detained in October 2009 at Christmas Island, a remote processing centre for would-be immigrants trying to reach Australia by boat.

An immigration department official had reportedly assessed their cases before asylum was rejected, and a federal government contractor for Christmas Island cases upheld the decision. As a result, they face deportation back to Sri Lanka.

The asylum seekers, identified only as M61 and M69, are pleading a lack of procedural fairness because the immigration minister failed to personally consider their cases, David Manne of the Refugee and Immigration Legal Centre has been quoted as saying.

The report stated that those denied refugee status while on the mainland of Australia can ultimately appeal their case to the immigration minister, who has the final say. Those who arrive illegally by boat are denied the right of full appeal.

"The government's position is that under its offshore processing regime, unlike on the mainland, a court can't look at whether the decisions on these life-or-death matters were made fairly or lawfully," he has told Australian Broadcasting Corporation radio.

"But our clients are also saying that in this context that a fair and lawful process should be applied in the same way that it is for people who arrive on the mainland."

The two Tamils fear persecution from the Sri Lankan army, agents of the government and paramilitary groups because of their alleged support for the Liberation Tamil Tigers of Eelam, Manne has said.