Green Party MP detained in Sri Lanka

Green MP Jan Logie's passport confiscated by Sri Lankan officials

Green Party MP Jan Logie says she is "safe'' after being detained by Sri Lankan authorities and her passport confiscated.

NZ Herald,

10 November, 2013

She was travelling with Australian senator Lee Rhiannon on a fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka in the leadup to Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting in Colombo.

Their trip was scheduled to end today and had the aim of finding out first-hand about the human rights abuses that the Sri Lankan people were experiencing, a Green Party spokesperson said.

Four Sri Lankan immigration officials shut down a meeting before the MPs' scheduled press conference and took Ms Logie's and Ms Rhiannon's passports.

Ms Logie told APNZ immigration officials told her and Ms Rhiannon that they had breached the Immigration Act, "which we have disagreed with because we applied for visas, we said we were Members of Parliament and we went for a category for special projects, which we were advised to do.

"Through the Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia we told them we were coming and what sort of visa we were on,'' she said.

"We don't consider that we've done anything to breach the act.''

The MPs are being detained at their hotel.

The officials wanted to separate the pair and get separate statements,

"We weren't comfortable doing that so we've called the Australian High Commission and we're waiting for their reply.''

There was lots of Sri Lankan media covering the story and the pair had not been ill-treated in any way, Ms Logie said.

"I think it highlights the lack of democracy in the country that talking about human rights is seen as something to shut down by this government.''

When speaking with media before leaving for the trip, Ms Logie said she had concerns about how officials would respond to her, because some members of the Australian media had been deported after it was discovered they were in Sri Lanka on tourist visas.

Ms Logie said she was travelling on a tourist visa, but there was a condition for special projects on that visa.

MPs held in Sri Lanka for highlighting human rights abuses

The detention of Green Party MP Jan Logie and Australian Green Senator Lee Rhiannon in Sri Lanka today highlights the very problem they were travelling to Sri Lanka to shine a light on.

the Green Party,

10 November, 2013

Jan Logie and Lee Rhiannon were detained for more than 2 hours and prevented from holding their scheduled press conference that would have highlighted the human rights abuses that they have found on their trip to Sri Lanka ahead of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM). They have just been released; their passports have been returned and they are travelling back to Australia and New Zealand.

"Our fact-finding trip to Sri Lanka has found that the human rights abuses that we have been hearing about are well-founded," Green Party human rights spokesperson Jan Logie said.

The ongoing abuses of human and legal rights are so serious that there is no way that the Commonwealth meeting should go ahead in Sri Lanka

"This country should never have been given the chance to chair the CHOGM meeting while those in power at the time of gross human rights violations have been able to avoid justice, and that is more apparent to me than ever," said Ms Logie.

"The ongoing abuses of human and legal rights are so serious that there is no way that the Commonwealth meeting should go ahead in Sri Lanka.

"During the time we were detained I felt the huge injustice of being protected because I am a foreigner and it only highlighted the experience and danger of local people trying to fight human rights abuses every day.

"One of the local women we were with had her ID card taken off her and she was extremely worried for the safety of her children.

"The people of Sri Lanka have suffered the illegal confiscation of their land, women have regularly suffered sexual abuse and other violence all without police investigation.

"I am on my way home to report on our findings."

Second Commonwealth PM staying away from summit

The Indian foreign ministry is giving no reason for Mr Singh not attending, saying only that the foreign minister will take his place.

Radio NZ,

11 November, 2013

Mr Harper said last month that he is boycotting the meeting because he is disturbed by continuing reports of intimidation and incarceration of political leaders and journalists, and harassment of minorities in Sri Lanka. Canada has a large expatriate Sri Lankan Tamil community.

The New Zealand government has said it is more constructive to engage with Sri Lanka, and Prime Minister John Key will attend the meeting - which begins on Friday - to directly express New Zealand's concerns about issues such as human rights.

The Sri Lankan government, which defeated the Tamil Tiger rebels in 2009, is under growing international pressure to try those responsible for rights abuses during the final days of the civil war that went on for 26 years.

Both sides were accused of human rights abuses throughout the conflict.

Genocide of Tamils in Sri Lanka