A Tamil from Sri Lanka who has been refused political asylum in both Germany and Britain has taken his case to the European Court of Human Rights.

The thirty-one-year-old man, whose identity has not been disclosed, is currently detained in Britain, which wants to deport him to Germany, where he arrived first after leaving Sri Lanka four years ago.

He is asking the court for permission to stay in Britain because he fears the Germans will send him back home to Jaffna.

At the hearing in Strasbourg, the man's lawyers produced photographs of burns, scars and injuries they said were inflicted on his body during torture and ill-treatment by both sides in the Sri Lankan conflict. Britain has agreed to delay expulsion until the court gives its verdict in about three months' time.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service