NewsSri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe said on Wednesday that failed asylum seekers held in Australian-run detention centres in the South Pacific will not face prosecution or harm if they return home. Australia does not publish details on the nationalities of the 1,152 people held on Manus and Nauru though refugee advocates said there are approximately 150 Sri Lankans detained. "They are welcome to return to Sri Lanka and we won't prosecute them," Wickremesinghe told reporters in Australia's capital Canberra. Despite the assurances from Wickremesinghe, refugee advocates said many Sri Lankans would be reluctant to return home amid reports of mistreatment of members of the ethnic Tamil minority, a claim Wickremesinghe rejected. "It is quite safe for them to come back... we want all the Tamils to come back," said Wickremesinghe.

Source: Sunday Times February 15, 2017 06:56 UTC