Monday, 11 November 2013 00:00
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Immigration officials say violated law by attempting to address press
MPs on DPL passports detained for 3 hours before being released
Media briefing scheduled at TNA office in Colombo shut down
Both MPs to report to respective Parliaments next week
Aussie media calls it a ‘diplomatic incident’
By Dharisha Bastians
Two visiting Parliamentarians from Australia and New Zealand were detained for several hours by Sri Lanka Immigration officials, who impounded their passports and shut down a joint media briefing they were scheduled to address last morning.
The MPs were detained for questioning at about 9:45 a.m. after they were found violating Immigration laws, officials of the Investigative Unit of the Department of Immigration and Emigration told Daily FT.
The visiting Parliamentarians were questioned at the lobby of the Renuka Hotel.
The Immigration official said that the MPs could not address the press in Sri Lanka without prior approval from the Ministry of External Affairs.
The two MPs had their passports impounded at the office of the Tamil National Alliance in Bambalapitiya a few minutes before they were scheduled to address a press briefing.
TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran told the Daily FT that the TNA had offered its office for the media briefing when the delegation had informed the party that it needed a space to address the media.
“The MPs have been in touch with the TNA because they were visiting the north,” Sumanthiran said. There had been several media reports about their travels to the former conflict zone and their meetings in the area, the TNA MP said.
Australian Green Party Senator Lee Rhiannon and New Zealand Green Party MP Jan Logie were in Sri Lanka on a fact-finding mission ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting this week.
The MPs were to issue a damning statement on human rights abuses ongoing in Sri Lanka during yesterday’s media briefing. They are strongly opposed to CHOGM being held in Sri Lanka as well as the country being granted the position of Commonwealth Chair. They are to report on their findings in Sri Lanka to their respective Parliaments next week. Both Parliamentarians were travelling on diplomatic passports. They were released by immigration authorities at 1 p.m. after which Rhiannon left for the airport to board her flight back to Australia. MP Logie is to travel back to New Zealand today.
Rhiannon’s Office in Sydney said that both the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade and the Government of Sri Lanka had been informed of their visit. The MP is to address the press in Sydney on her arrival there this morning.
Rhiannon told The Australian that she had been travelling on a legitimate special projects class visit visa issued by the Government of Sri Lanka.
The Australian media is calling the detention and questioning of the two MPs a ‘diplomatic incident’ days ahead of the Australian Premier’s visit to Sri Lanka to attend CHOGM.
Meanwhile, the Australian High Commission in Colombo says Senator Lee, who was detained and questioned by Immigration authorities at the hotel she was staying in Colombo, had not sought consular support from the High Commission. A spokesman at the High Commission said that the Mission was aware that she was questioned by Sri Lankan authorities over an alleged breach of visa regulations. The spokesman said that the High Commission had been in touch with the Senator.
Last month the Government detained two Australian media activists from the International Federation of Journalists, Asia Pacific Director Jacqui Park and her Deputy Jane Worthington who were taken into custody by Immigration before being deported two days later.
