Bruce Haigh, a former Australian diplomat who served in Sri Lanka and a member of the Refugee Review Tribunal, has written, slamming Australia for being complicit in the genocide of Tamils and called for the country to cut sporting ties with the country.

His comments come as the Sri Lankan cricket team begin their tour of Australia. 

Extracts have been reproduced below. See the full piece here.

"Who would have thought that in 17 years, Australia could have gone from being a leading champion in the global fight to end the racial discrimination of apartheid to siding with the corrupt and venal government of Sri Lanka in the genocide of Tamils."

"Australia has become complicit in the genocide of Sri Lanka's Tamil minority. Asylum seekers that arrive in Australia are being given no opportunity to make a statement of claims. Acting on the advice of the Sri Lankan government, they are being returned to Sri Lanka on the basis that they have no claims. Any claim they make is regarded as spurious."

Australians call for a boycott of the Sri Lankan national cricket team’s tour of Australia due to the country's poor human rights record, reported the Brisbane Times.

The Tamil Refugee Council and Refugee Action Collective in Victoria have been pushing for a boycott ahead of the first Test, due to take place this week.

The United States has granted extensions on waivers of US sanctions placed on Iran to 20 countries, including Sri Lanka.

The waivers, originally granted in June, mean that these countries will not be hit with penalties by the US, as they continue to reduce their imports of iranian oil.

Other countries who were granted extensions on waivers include China, India, South Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, South Africa, Turkey and Taiwan, Belgium, Britain, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Greece, Italy, the Netherlands, Poland, Spain and Japan.

In statement published Friday, the US State department expressed concern at the impeachment trial of Sri Lanka's Chief Justice, Shirani Bandaranayake, as "part of a disturbing deterioration of democratic norms in Sri Lanka."

Statement:

Deploring the attacks on Jaffna University students, the Global Tamil Forum (GTF), called for the immediate releas of students detained by the Terrorism Investigative Division (TID).

In a statement GTF said,

"GTF supports the mass protests denouncing the security forces, which was staged in Jaffna by the key Tamil parties, supported by like-minded democratic political forces in the South, trade unions and many civil society organisations. In addition, the solidarity shown by student unions in Eastern University, Ruhuna, Peradeniya Universities in Southern Sri Lanka and Youth organisations overseas, with the plight of those at Jaffna University, underlines the desire to end the State’s repression of the Tamil people in the area."

"The Government’s response has been to increase heavily armed military personnel around the Jaffna University, spurring arbitrary security checks and raising fear that there could be more arrests of University students on false charges under the sweeping powers granted to military under Terrorism laws. State authorities and security personnel have used these laws to criminalise dissent, supress politicians, human rights activists, journalists, trade unionists, restrict freedom of expression and commit human rights abuses with impunity."

An 18 year old student was abducted by the Terrorism Investigations Department (TID) whilst in Valveddithurai (VVT), in Jaffna, reports TamilNet.

The studnet, Arulampalam Dhishokraj is believed to have been abducted on Wednesday. The parents of Dishokraj received a telephone call from the TID the next day, informing them that their son was in custody.

The Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), run by the World Bank, has said the risk of expropriation is rising in several countries, highlighting Sri Lanka as one of the countries where it is prevalent.

Six more students were arrested by the Terrorism Intelligence Department on Thursday reports Uthayan and TamilNet.

Five of them were handed over by the Dean of the Medical Faculty, Prof. Balakumaran, the other - a student within the Science faculty - was handed over by his father.

Tamil politician, M K Sivajilingam, has confirmed that the Sri Lankan government has made at least 3 attempts to assassinate him, after details of alleged attempts to murder him were revealed.

His comments come after a former Sri Lankan Army Captain told Canadian officials that he was ordered to place explosives at the home of the politician, who at the time was with the Tamil National Alliance.