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Sri Lanka detains Canadian MP: officials
A Canadian MP was detained on arrival at Sri Lanka's international airport on Wednesday and could be deported for allegedly having supported the Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.
A Canadian MP was detained on arrival at Sri Lanka's international airport on Wednesday and could be deported for allegedly having supported the Tamil Tiger rebels, officials said.
Bob Rae, a Liberal member of parliament and outspoken critic of the Sri Lankan military's offensive against the rebels, was stopped at Bandaranaike International airport and barred from passing through immigration, a foreign ministry official said.
"There are allegations that he was supportive of Tamil Tigers," said an official, who asked not to be named.
"We have not deported him yet," he added.
Canada gave asylum to more than 300,000 ethnic Tamils who left Sri Lanka in the 1980s, and members of the diaspora have held angry anti-Sri Lankan rallies there in recent months.
Last month, Canada accused Sri Lankan police of failing to guard its embassy in Colombo when it was targeted by stone-throwing protestors and demanded a full inquiry.
Dozens of protestors shouting anti-Canadian slogans pelted the mission building with stones and spray-painted the entrance to the diplomatic compound.
The protestors accused Canada of being overly sympathetic to the Tamil Tiger rebels, who were wiped out by government troops in a final battle last month.
