The Australian government has sent back 38 asylum seekers who arrived by boat in Australia’s busy Geraldton port last week, as refugee advocacy groups claim they were denied access to lawyers.

A further 28 asylum seekers who were on the boat are having their claims “processed” on Christmas Island, according to reports, after the group pulled into the port following a 44-day voyage from Sri Lanka. An Australian Air Force jet will be sending the asylum seekers to Colombo. Immigration Minister Brendan O’Connor stated,

''Returning this group to Sri Lanka sends the powerful message that people who pay smugglers are throwing their money away and risking their lives in the process... There is no fast track to Australia - irrespective of whether someone arrives at an excised offshore place. If they do not engage Australia's protection obligations, they will be returned home.''

Meanwhile, as another group of asylum ended a 10-day hunger strike in a Melbourne detention centre, American political critic Noam Chomsky stated,

“The true measure of the moral level of a society is how it treats the most vulnerable people... Few are as vulnerable as those who have fled to Australia in terror and are locked away without charge, their terrible fate veiled in secrecy. We may not be able to do much beyond lamenting about North Korean prisons. But we can do a great deal about severe human rights violations right within reach”.

He was joined by critically acclaimed Australian author Thomas Keneally, who said,

“If any Australian citizens were treated as these people are, with detention, humiliation and denial of rights, we too would make protests to assert the justice of our cause – just as these present refugees have done”.

Reporters Without Borders and Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka have denounced an attack on a Tamil newspaper in Jaffna, just 10 days after the same paper’s office were attacked in Kilinochchi.

Both RSF and JDS said,

The Bodu Bala Sena has condemned the recent human rights report released by the FCO, for “baseless” allegations.

Objecting of the organisation name’s translation as ‘Buddhist Army’ in the report, the BBS said its name meant 'Forces of Buddhist Power' and “it is not an Army as specified by the UK.”

Three Commonwealth institutions of the legal profession made joint calls upon the Members of the Common wealth, through the upcoming Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group to place Sri Lanka on the agenda of its next meeting on 26 April 2013, and suspend it from the Councils of Commonwealth for serious and persistent violations of the Commonwealth fundamental values.

Spokesperson for the Sri Lankan Army, Ruwan Wanigasooriya, has said that it would be impossible for the LTTE to spark another resistance, reports Uthayan.

British Tamils Forum condemned the attack on the Tamil newspaper office, the Uthayan, in a statement released on Wednesday.

See here, reproduced in full below:

British Tamils Forum (BTF) condemns the recent attack on the Tamil news paper 'Uthayan' in Jaffna

Despite the heavy presence of security forces, a group of armed men have fired and then torched the printing machinery of the “Uthayan” newspaper.

The Sri Lankan police force has announced plans to track all foreign tourists in the country, as an apparent move to “ensure their safety”, according to officials on Monday.

The police force, under the Sri Lankan Ministry of Defence headed by Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has instructed all hotels and guest houses to submit weekly reports of all foreigners staying with them.

Speaking to a visiting Indian parliamentary delegation, the Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa said that a separate system of governance for the North-East will never be a reality, reports the Island.

Responding to a proposal by the US Secretary of State John Kerry for a 20% cut in US aid to Sri Lanka, a senior government official has asserted that the proposed cut will have no impact on the Sri Lankan economy, according to the government's official news portal - News.lk.

Drawing attention to the Uthayan attack and the continued post-UNHRC resolution violations of human rights, the Canadian Tamil Congress called on members of the Commonwealth Ministerial Action Group (CMAG) to move the CHOGM 2013 from Sri Lanka.

See here for full statement published on Monday. Reproduced in full below:

Only three weeks ago, the United Nations Human Rights Council (UNHRC) passed a resolution stating its concern surrounding the "continuing reports of violations of human rights in Sri Lanka, including enforced disappearances, extrajudicial killings, torture, and violations of the rights of expression, association and peaceful assembly, as well as intimidation of and reprisals against human rights defenders, members of civil society and journalist, and threats to judicial independence and the rule of law, and discrimination on the basis of religion or belief."

The Indian Foreign Secretary Ranjan Mathai has said that no conditions are attached to aid that India gives to countries including Sri Lanka, Afghanistan and Bangladesh.