COLOMBO, Nov 08, 2013 (AFP) - Sri Lanka, which faces international censure over alleged war crimes, has revoked the visas of human rights experts for a meeting coinciding with a Commonwealth summit, the International Bar Association said Friday.
The London-based IBA's team of experts had their visas withdrawn ahead of their planned attendance at a seminar next week in Colombo, when the 53-member Commonwealth bloc also holds its biennial summit in Colombo.
The Bar Association of Sri Lanka said the government's decision to block their foreign guest speakers amounted to a "clear assault" on freedom of speech and association.
The International Bar Association's Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) was due to attend a seminar titled: "Making Commonwealth Values a Reality: the Rule of Law and the Independence of the Legal Profession."
IBAHRI said Sri Lankan authorities revoked the visas on Wednesday, saying they were unable to "facilitate any visits" during an "embargoed period from October 20 to November 20".
The visas had been issued in August.
"By denying entry to the IBAHRI delegation, the government of Sri Lanka is demonstrating to the world its determination to block freedom of speech and independent discussion in the country," IBAHRI co-chair Sternford Moyo said in a statement.
He said Sri Lanka was trying to leave Commonwealth heads "cocooned and isolated".
"The argument from the government is that we did not get permission from the foreign ministry to hold the seminar," Upul Jayasuriya, chief of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) which was organising the seminar, told AFP.
"We don't need their permission, there is no legal requirement for that. This is a clear assault on the freedom of expression and association."
Jayasuriya said BASL had similar parallel legal gatherings during previous summits held in Sri Lanka and noted that authorities placed no obstacles in their way.
Sri Lanka's hosting of the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM) four years after the end of the decades-long Tamil separatist war is already mired in controversy.
Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper is boycotting CHOGM to protest against Sri Lanka's failure to probe its troops over allegations they killed up to 40,000 civilians while defeating Tamil rebels in 2009.
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