{"id":115880,"date":"2013-11-27T21:12:38","date_gmt":"2013-11-27T15:42:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=115880"},"modified":"2013-12-08T12:11:55","modified_gmt":"2013-12-08T06:41:55","slug":"law-council-australia-condemns-sri-lankas-worsening-rule-of-law","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/law-council-australia-condemns-sri-lankas-worsening-rule-of-law\/","title":{"rendered":"Law Council Australia Condemns Sri Lanka\u2019s Worsening Rule Of Law"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The Law Council of Australia (LCA) has joined a chorus of criticism directed at the Sri Lankan government over the state of the rule of law in the country.<\/p>\n<p>LCA president Michael Colbran QC said he was particularly concerned by reports of threats and intimidation directed at members of the legal profession and judiciary in Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_115881\" style=\"width: 235px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LS.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-115881\" class=\"size-full wp-image-115881\" alt=\"Michael Colbran QC\" src=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LS.jpg\" width=\"225\" height=\"225\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LS.jpg 225w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LS-150x150.jpg 150w, https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/11\/LS-50x50.jpg 50w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 225px) 100vw, 225px\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-115881\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Michael Colbran QC<\/p><\/div>\n<p>He singled out the impeachment of the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Shirani+Bandaranayake&amp;x=10&amp;y=5\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">former Chief Justice<\/span><\/a> of Sri Lanka in January, claiming the dismissal did not appear to comply with the principles of natural justice.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAn independent legal profession and judiciary is an essential component of the rule of law,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Earlier this month, authorities revoked the visas of three human rights experts speaking at a conference co-hosted by the Bar Association of Sri Lanka and International Bar Association Human Right\u2019s Institute (IBAHRI). The event coincided with Sri Lanka\u2019s hosting of this year\u2019s Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting (CHOGM).<\/p>\n<p>One of the speakers whose visa was revoked, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Gabriela+Knaul&amp;x=14&amp;y=6\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Gabriela Knaul<\/span><\/a>, UN Special Rapporteur on the Independence of Judges and Lawyers, said she had serious concerns about acts of reprisals against judges, prosecutors, lawyers and other members of the judicial system who cooperate with UN and regional human rights mechanisms.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cReprisals against judicial actors and legal professionals are a kind of attack to their institutional and functional independence,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n<p>The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) also highlighted Sri Lanka\u2019s disregard for international standards in an open letter signed by 56 eminent jurists and senior judges from around the world. The letter also raised concerns about the independence of the judiciary and the removal of judges.<\/p>\n<p>Colbran has called on the Australian Government to continue to address these matters with the government of Sri Lanka.<\/p>\n<p>However, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Kishali+Pinto-Jayawardena+&amp;x=14&amp;y=3\">Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena<\/a><\/span>, a Sri Lankan lawyer and legal columnist for Colombo\u2019s Sunday Times, is unimpressed by the Australian Government\u2019s efforts so far. She slammed recent remarks by Prime Minister Tony Abbott as \u201cdeplorably simplistic\u201d and showing a lack of understanding regarding the problem of impunity that Sri Lanka faces.<\/p>\n<p>lawyersweekly.com.au<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":115881,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,1,6969,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-115880","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-news","category-popular-stories","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Law Council Australia Condemns Sri Lanka\u2019s Worsening Rule Of Law - Colombo Telegraph<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/law-council-australia-condemns-sri-lankas-worsening-rule-of-law\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Law Council Australia Condemns Sri Lanka\u2019s Worsening Rule Of Law - 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