A Melbourne woman who staged a protest on board a Qantas flight to prevent the deportation of a Tamil asylum seeker to Sri Lanka will plead not guilty when she faces court on Friday morning, her supporters say.

Jasmine Pilbrow, 22, refused to take her seat on a flight in February last year that was headed from Melbourne to Darwin, from where the asylum seeker was expected to be deported to Sri Lanka.

Another passenger also stood in protest once Pilbrow made others on the flight aware of the asylum seeker’s situation. The asylum seeker was eventually escorted off the plane by police and returned to detention in Melbourne.

Pilbrow was charged under the Civil Aviation Act for interference with a crew member of an aircraft and faces up to two years’ imprisonment. The asylum seeker has since been deported back to Sri Lanka, according to Kumar Sinna, a Tamil community advocate and friend of Pilbrow’s.

Sinna said Pilbrow would plead not guilty on Friday. She will be supported in the Broadmeadows magistrates court by human rights advocates and representatives from the Tamil community, who will gather in a nearby park before the court case in a public display of support.

“She is a little bit nervous but she still believes she stood up for justice and compassion,” Sinna told Guardian Australia.

“The Tamil community certainly believes it is a brave thing that she did and that she fought for justice. She has been heavily involved with the Tamil community and in helping asylum seekers in the past few years, so we really wish to support her.”

Last month the Dandenong Journal reported that about 20 Tamil asylum seekers living in the Greater Dandenong-Casey region of Victoria had been detained in recent weeks by Australian Border Force staff who raided their homes in the middle of the night.

Sinna and other human rights advocates say that, despite a change in the Sri Lankan government last year, it remained unsafe for Tamils, who they say are still being detained. Human rights organisations have consistently raised concerns about Tamil asylum seekers being persecuted and tortured upon their return to Sri Lanka.

“They are still facing abuse and disappearing,” Sinna said. “Leaving the country to seek asylum is illegal and those returned are dealt with by Sri Lanka’s criminal investigation department, notorious for the rape and torture of Tamil men, women and children.”

Last month Australia’s immigration minister, Peter Dutton, announced that the government had returned a group of Sri Lankan nationals to Sri Lanka after intercepting a boat with six asylum seekers on board.

“Our Sri Lankan partners provided advice that this vessel might be targeting Australia so we were ready and waiting to locate and detain the boat,” Dutton said at the time.

“We have worked cooperatively with Sri Lanka for several years now and, since Operation Sovereign Borders began in 2013, every Sri Lankan boat that has attempted to come to Australia illegally has failed.

“This return shows that there has not been, and will not be, any change to Australia’s robust border protection policies.”

(The Guardian)