Australia's immigration minister reacted angrily today to claims by Sri Lankan migrants that they were abused and mistreated by Australian officials while being forced home in a controversial mid-sea operation.
Attending a ceremony in Colombo harbour, Scott Morrison said the claims by some of the 41 returned asylum-seekers were offensive.
"I find those allegations offensive and reject them absolutely," Morrison told reporters after the ceremony with President Mahinda Rajapakse to commission two boats donated by Australia to combat people-smuggling.
He dismissed rights groups' concerns that the migrants could be mistreated after being sent back to Sri Lanka. "We don't have those concerns, based on the assurances (from Colombo) to the previous (Australian) government," he said.
Some of the migrants, who included four women and nine children, claimed yesterday that they were locked up, given little food and treated "worse than dogs" by Australian authorities mid-sea after their boat was seized.
Some claimed they were racially abused, denied medication and given out of date food by customs officers. Several said they had been trying to get to New Zealand to find jobs.
The group appeared in a court in the town of Galle yesterday charged with illegally leaving the country, after spending the night in a Sri Lankan high-security detention centre upon their return.
While the children were discharged, the rest of the group face an initial charge of breaking immigration law, which carries a maximum penalty of two years in jail.
Most are members of Sri Lanka's majority Sinhalese community rather than minority Tamils -- some of whose members have suffered persecution since the end in 2009 of a decades-long separatist war.
Australia has come under fire over the transfer, with experts saying its shipboard screening to determine whether the migrants had refugee status appeared inadequate under international law.
Morrison declined comment on the fate of another 153 Sri Lankans being held in custody on the high seas, saying the matter was still before the courts.
Australia faces growing pressure over its immigration policies with High Court action under way over the 153, who are currently detained on a customs boat.
