Officials of the Sri Lankan Mission in Israel will meet the group of suspected Sri Lankan asylum seekers currently being held at the Givon Prison, today, a senior official of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
The exact date of the group’s arrival in Tel Aviv remains unconfirmed.
Israel media reported that 13 Sri Lankans were detained by the Israeli law enforcement agencies after they arrived in Israel on tourist visas and thereafter, claimed political asylum, over a week ago.
According to reports, the group had not been permitted legal representation before the two-week detention order was issued.
“In response to a request by the Sri Lankan Mission in Tel Aviv to extend consular assistance to the group, the prison authorities had granted them permission to meet the prisoners today,” the officer said, responding to a query from the Sunday Observer. Sri Lanka’s Ambassador in Israel, P. Selvaraj had told the Foreign Ministry that further details of the prisoners, including their health and immediate needs will be known after today’s meeting with them.
The Jerusalem Post reported that the 13 had arrived in Israel on tourist visas and had claimed that they had received death threats following the ‘October revolution’ in their home country. But Israeli law enforcement officials believe that the Lankans are economic migrants.
A list containing the names of the detainees has been released to the Lankan Mission in Tel Aviv.
According to local media reports, the group of 11 men and two women were detained at the Ben-Gurion Airport and later taken to the Yahalom detention facility for illegal immigrants. They had not been given access to their own baggage and facilities to contact their next of kin for over a week. A prisoner with diabetes was later hospitalised as the group had also not been allowed access to medication.
A member of the Sri Lankan community in Israel who had received a message on his phone from one of the detainees, had alerted the hotline for refugees and migrants to their plight, which resulted in lawyers being sent to the Yahalom facility to safeguard their rights. Later, the group which was about to be deported, was instead sent to the Givon prison.