An Australian and a New Zealand parliamentarian have been detained and are being questioned for violating visa regulations, the Department of Immigration and Emigration said today.
Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and New Zealand MP Jan Logie have been detained by Sri Lankan authorities and had their passports confiscated, allegedly for a visa infraction, the Sydney Morning Herald reported.
Senator Rhiannon was being held by immigration authorities at a Colombo hotel. She was forced to cancel a planned press conference, and may miss her planned flight from Sri Lanka this afternoon (local time).
Ms Rhiannon has been in the country studying the Sri Lanka’s human rights record, and says she has seen evidence of extreme government repression, the media report said.
She was meeting with members of civil society groups in Colombo when her meeting was interrupted by four immigration officials who questioned her and took her passport.
The officials alleged she had broken visa laws, and that the Sri Lankan government had not been notified she was coming to the country.
Ms Rhiannon denies this. She told Fairfax Media by phone she is in Sri Lanka on a “special projects” class tourist visa, which she was advised to obtain as a visiting member of parliament engaged in work.
She says Australia’s Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade also sent its Sri Lankan equivalent a formal note advising of her planned visit and activities.
The officials took Ms Rhiannon and Ms Logie back to their hotel, and tried to separate them to interrogate them individually.
Ms Rhiannon resisted this, and rang Australia’s High Commissioner to Sri Lanka, Robyn Mudie, for assistance.
“This excessive response from the government of Sri Lanka is just further evidence why the country should not have been awarded the right to host the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting, and the chair of CHOGM for two years.
“Our detention highlights the Sri Lankan government is unwilling to allow a free exchange of ideas.”
Ms Rhiannon said during her visit to Sri Lanka she had seen evidence of severe, and worsening, government repression.
“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.”
Last month, authorities had detained two Australian media activists who were meeting with journalist unions. They were interrogated for more than 15 hours before being deported.
UPDATE: The Immigration Department said that the 2 detained Australian and New Zealand parliamentarians have been released since they have agreed to leave Sri Lanka.
