COLOMBO: Sri Lanka’s top court extended on Wednesday a travel ban on ex-PM Mahinda Rajapaksa and ex-finance minister Basil Rajapaksa, as their brother, ousted president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, is expected to return after fleeing the crisis-hit country.
Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled to the Maldives and then Singapore earlier this month to escape a months-long popular uprising over the role his family played in the country’s worst economic meltdown in memory.
He left the country after protesters stormed his home and presidential offices, demanding his resignation. Days later, Rajapaksa’s resignation letter was dispatched from Singapore to Sri Lanka and officially accepted by Parliament on July 15.
It was unclear when the ex-president would return, but Cabinet spokesman Bandula Gunawardena told reporters on Tuesday night that Rajapaksa “is not in hiding nor in exile.”
Gunawardena said: “He will come soon but I don’t know when.”
As Rajapaksa remains abroad, the Supreme Court extended until Aug. 2 an overseas travel ban on his brothers.
The court said in a statement that the order was issued following a petition “requesting the court to issue an order for an investigation against the people responsible for the current economic crisis.”
Protests flared up on the island nation of 22 million people in March and have spread across the country as people struggle with daily power cuts and shortages of basic commodities such as fuel, food and medicines.
Sri Lanka has run out of foreign currency reserves, leaving it unable to pay for imports. In May, the country officially defaulted on its debt.
Protesters have blamed the Rajapaksas, Sri Lanka’s most powerful political family, for mismanagement of the country’s finances.
The political dynasty began with Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was president from 2005-2015. His three brothers were also involved in politics at that time. Gotabaya led the defense ministry, Chamal — the eldest of Rajapaksa siblings — was speaker of parliament, while the youngest sibling, Basil, was a cabinet minister.
After Mahinda’s presidential term ended, he was absent from the top leadership for three years until becoming prime minister in 2018.
When Gotabaya won the presidency in 2019, the family’s grip on power strengthened: Chamal Rajapaksa was soon named minister of irrigation and state minister of home affairs, and of national security and disaster management, while Basil was appointed finance minister. Mahinda’s son, Namal Rajapaksa, became minister of youth and sports.
Though the Rajapaksas have all resigned from government over the past few months amid mounting demonstrations, protesters continue to demand investigations into the family’s role in the economic crisis.
After his resignation, Gotabaya Rajapaksa no longer enjoys immunity from prosecution, but many people remain skeptical of the new government’s willingness to investigate the former leaders.
Sri Lanka’s new president Ranil Wickremesinghe, a Rajapaksa ally, last week appointed a Cabinet comprising the same politicians that served under the former president.
Sri Lanka extends travel ban on Rajapaksa brothers as ex-president expected to return
https://arab.news/4b3kj
Sri Lanka extends travel ban on Rajapaksa brothers as ex-president expected to return
- Gotabaya Rajapaksa fled earlier this month to escape months-long popular uprising
- Protesters have blamed family for mismanaging country’s finances
Sweden plans to tighten rules for gaining citizenship
- The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates
STOCKHOLM: Sweden said Monday it planned to tighten rules to acquire citizenship, introducing “honest living” and financial requirements, a language and general knowledge test and raising the residency requirement from five to eight years.
If approved by parliament, the new rules would enter into force on June 6, Sweden’s national holiday, and would apply even to applications already being processed.
Migration Minister Johan Forssell, whose right-wing minority government holds a majority with the backing of the far-right Sweden Democrats, told reporters it was currently too easy to acquire Swedish citizenship.
“Citizenship needs to mean more than it does today,” he said.
“Pride is something you feel when you’ve worked hard at something. But working hard is not something that has characterised citizenship.
“It has been possible to become a citizen after five years without knowing a single word of Swedish, without knowing anything about our Swedish society, without having any own income.”
Referring to a case that recently made headlines, he said: “You can even become one while you’re sitting in custody accused of murder.
“This obviously sends completely wrong signals, both to those who do right by themselves and those who are already citizens.”
Following a large influx of migrants to Sweden during the 2015 migrant crisis, successive left- and right-wing governments have tightened asylum and migration rules.
The country has for years struggled to integrate migrants, with many not learning the language and living in disadvantaged areas with higher crime and jobless rates.
Under the new rules, those who have criminal records — in their home country or in Sweden — and who have served their sentence would have to wait up to 17 years before being allowed to apply for citizenship, up from the current 10 years.
In addition, those deemed to not adhere to “honest living” requirements would not be granted citizenship.
That could include racking up mountains of debt, being served restraining orders or even having a drug addiction.
Applicants would also have to have a monthly pre-tax income of 20,000 kronor ($2,225), excluding pensioners and students.
The citizenship tests would be similar to those used in neighboring Denmark and the United States, the government said, with the first tests due to be held in August.
