Sri Lanka blacklists senior HRW officer

Colombo, May 8 (ANI): The Government of Sri Lanka has blackisted a senior researcher of the emergencies division at Human Rights Watch (HRW) due to violation of the country's immigration and emigration laws.

Immigration and Emigration controller P.B. Abeykoon told reporters here on Friday that Anna Neistat had entered the country using forged documents last February.

Neistat is learnt to have visited Vavuniya with the aid of several pro-LTTE NGOs and gathered incorrect information after arriving at the country on a tourist visa.

Intelligence sources told the Colombopage website that she deceived local immigration authorities by claiming to be a lawyer.

Neistat recently testified before the United States Senate Committee on Foreign Relations hearing on Sri Lanka. She described the welfare centers set up for the civilians reaching government controlled Vavuniya as 'internment camps with barbed wires and machine guns'.

Neistat also admitted that she managed to collect credible information about 'egregious violations by the parties to the conflict' and also that the the HRW visited the Vavuniya hospital on February 11 and interviewed patients. (ANI)