The arrest of two prominent human rights activists in Sri Lanka has been condemned as “not acceptable” by British Foreign Office Minister Hugo Swire.

Mr Swire said he was “deeply concerned” to hear of the arrests and urged the government of Sri Lanka to allow them “immediate access to lawyers and their families”.

He added that the two men - Father Praveen Mahesan, a priest and human rights defender, and Ruki Fernando a Catholic human rights activist from the majority Sinhala community - have “a strong record of promoting peace, justice and reconciliation across the country”.

The arrests follow the detention last week of a leading Tamil campaigner for the disappeared, Balenderan Jayakumari, who was arrested along with her 13 year old daughter and is currently detained under the country’s prevention of terrorism act. That arrest too, was condemned by Mr Swire.

‘‘With the March UN Human Rights Council underway and a resolution on Sri Lanka under draft, these arrests underline why the Council must continue its focus on Sri Lanka. The world is watching what happens there, so I urge the Sri Lankan Government to respect human rights defenders and uphold the principles of free expression and movement,” he was quoted as saying by Channel 4 News.

The two men were arrested yesterday in the Kilinochchi area and taken to the Sri Lankan capital Colombo for questioning by the Terrorism Investigation Department.