Commonwealth Secretary General Kamalesh Sharma (L) and Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapakse (R) attending the Commonwealth People’s Forum 2013
An Australian Senator and a New Zealand MP on a fact-finding mission into reported human rights abuses in Sri Lanka, have reportedly left the country after being detained in Colombo, a media report said in Melbourne.
Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon was visiting Sri Lanka on a human rights fact-finding visit with New Zealand Greens MP Jan Logie ahead of this week's Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).
Rhiannon was quoted as saying that they had their passports confiscated and were questioned for several hours by Sri Lankan authorities yesterday before being allowed to leave the country.
Rhiannon's office confirmed she had boarded a flight back to Australia, ABC reported today.
Rhiannon said the harassment of an Australian politician was another reason why Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott should not attend CHOGM summit.
Both Australian Prime Minister Tony Abbott and New Zealand Prime Minister John Key are to attend the summit.
She told the ABC that immigration officials raided the meeting and took her and Logie back to their hotel.
In a joint statement with Logie, she said human rights abuses in Sri Lanka are so serious that the CHOGM meeting should be scrapped.
"Elected officials and members of civil society in Sri Lanka have provided us with examples of massive illegal land confiscation by the armed forces; people being jailed and detained with regular disregard for legal rights; violence, often involving rape, of women and children with no police investigation of these crimes; and ongoing intimidation of media workers," the statement said.
Sri Lanka faced censure at the UN Human Rights Council over its failure to probe allegations that up to 40,000 civilians were killed by its troops in the final months of the battle with Tamil rebels in 2009, charges the country has denied.