Media Alert: Greens Senator Rhiannon returns to Australia after detainment - will report on Sri Lanka human rights abuses

MEDIA ALERT FOR MONDAY 11 NOV

10 November 2013

Greens Senator Rhiannon returns to Australia after detainment - will report on Sri Lanka human rights abuses

WHAT: 

Senator Rhiannon is on a flight back to Sydney after being detained by Sri Lankan Government officials for over three hours. 

Earlier today Australian Greens Senator Lee Rhiannon and NZ Green MP Jan Logie were meeting with members of civil society when four Sri Lankan immigration officials arrived at the location, confiscated their passports and detained them for over three hours. 

Senator Rhiannon and Jan Logie MP were on a fact finding mission in Sri Lanka in the lead up to CHOGM which starts today.  

DFAT and the Government of Sri Lanka had been notified of Senator Rhiannon's trip to Sri Lanka prior to her visit.

Before their detainment, Senator Rhiannon and Jan Logie MP released a statement (http://bit.ly/HGh8Wg) which said they have found that the ongoing abuses of human and legal rights are so serious that the Commonwealth meeting scheduled for Colombo should not proceed and that the Sri Lanka government should not be given the chair of CHOGM for the next two years . 

Senator Rhiannon will be reporting her findings to the Australian parliament this week. 

The controversy around Sri Lanka hosting CHOGM continues, as the Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh today said he would not be attending the meeting. 

The Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is also boycotting CHOGM citing President Rajapakse’s failure to investigate allegations of war crimes. 

WHERE:               Sydney International Airport, Terminal 1. Parking space for the media is available at Departures Roadway.
TIME:                  10am.  Senator Rhiannon’s flight is due to arrive at 9.15am.
WHEN:                 TOMORROW 11 November 2013
Contact:              0487 350 880