Marty Silk | AAP | December 19,
2012 12:43PM | Adelaide Now
AN
elderly doctor and human rights activist will complain to the Australian
government, saying he was detained and deported from Singapore for political
reasons.
Brian
Senewiratne, 81, a long-time critic of the Sri Lankan government over its
treatment of Tamils, is also threatening legal action against Singapore's
immigration authorities.
"It's
not surprising, but the audacity is staggering," Dr Senewiratne told AAP
on Wednesday, following his detention and deportation late last week.
The
practising doctor said he was stopped by authorities in Singapore while en
route to speak at "invitation-only meetings" in Malaysia about the
plight of Tamil refugees from Sri Lanka.
He'd
then planned to head to Indonesia to do volunteer work.
But he
said he was prevented from travelling on and locked in a holding room at
Singapore airport for five hours without food, water or a toilet.
He was
eventually put on a return flight to Brisbane.
"I
wasn't allowed to use my phone or laptop," Dr Senewiratne said.
"They
gave me no food or water. They wouldn't even let me go to the toilet.
"I've
got heart problems. At one point by heart rate was 124 beats a minute. It's
normally 60."
Dr
Senewiratne said an official told him he would not be allowed to continue his
journey.
"The
official said: 'From Brisbane you came, to Brisbane you are going, under armed
guard'."
Dr
Senewiratne was put on a flight back and handed a deportation order which he
said stated he was ineligible for entry into Singapore "under current
immigration policies".
But he
said he was not told what policies he was accused of breaching, and he'd had no
response to complaints lodged with Singaporean authorities.
He said
he was writing to Foreign Minister Bob Carr, and his local federal MP, former
foreign minister Kevin Rudd, asking them to take up the case.
"The
foreign minister is currently sitting with the man who probably organised it
all, (Sri Lanka) President Mahendra Rajapaksa," said Dr Senewiratne, who
still practises in Brisbane.
"I've
had over 1000 emails, faxes, telephone calls and even visits just to see that I
was alive because at 81 you could bloody well be dead after that
treatment."
Dr
Senewiratne believes the Malaysian government may have told the Sri Lankan
government about his trip and it asked Malaysia to stop him going ahead.
