The son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapaksa was arrested on Monday on fraud charges,

Namal Rajapaksa, MP for Hambantota, was arrested on money laundering charges, in another sign of Mahinda Rajapaksa's waning power.

Since former president Rajapaksa was defeated in elections last year, several of his confidantes and family members have been arrested on fraud charges, as the current government seeks to distinguish itself from the former regime by cracking down on corruption.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour Tom Malinowski will visit Sri Lanka from July 12 to 20, where he will engage with government officials and local civil society representatives.

Assistant Secretary Malinowski will focus on Sri Lanka’s continued progress in meeting the commitments made during last September’s UN Human Rights Council session. He will also discuss the work that remains in the areas of justice and reconciliation, and confirm that the United States continues to support Sri Lankan efforts to tackle these issues, according to a State Department press release.

Sri Lanka's president Maithripala Sirisena has denied that foreign judges will be allowed to prtake in any accountability mechanism, the second time he has done so in two days.

The president slammed sections of the Sinhala press for reporting that the accountability mechanism would include foreign participation, Ceylonews reported.

The US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia Nisha Biswal will be visiting Sri Lanka next week.

Ms Biswal, who will be accompanied by her deputy Manpreet Anand, will travel to Colombo where she will meet with senior government officials, political leaders, and civil society representatives to discuss bilateral economic cooperation as well as democratic governance and reconciliation, according to the State Department.