Australia: Sri Lankan Migrant Mistreatment Claims 'Offensive'

Australia's immigration minister reacted angrily Wednesday to claims by Sri Lankan migrants that they were abused and mistreated by Australian officials while being forced to return home in a controversial mid-sea operation.

Scott Morrison also said he did not think the group of 41 Sri Lankans would suffer mistreatment back home as a result of attempting the trip to Australia.

"I find those allegations offensive and reject them absolutely," he told reporters after attending a ceremony with President Mahinda Rajapakse to commission two boats donated by Australia to combat people-smuggling.

"We don't have those concerns (of abuse back home), based on the assurances (from Colombo) to the previous (Australian) government...." he said at Colombo harbor.

Some of the migrants claimed on Tuesday that they were abused, given little food and treated "worse than dogs" by Australian authorities mid-sea after their boat was turned back.

Some, who said they were trying to get to New Zealand to find jobs, claimed they were racially abused, denied medication and given stale food by Customs officers.

The group, who include four women and nine children, returned on Monday to Sri Lanka where they appeared in court on Tuesday charged with illegally leaving the country. 

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 of the group 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 migrants have refugee status appeared inadequate under international law.

Morrison told reporters that Australia's policy on illegal immigration was successful and no people-smuggling boats bound for Australia had arrived for nearly seven months.

He said some 1,200 asylum-seekers had previously died at sea while making the dangerous voyage and warned against attempting to enter the country illegally.

"Buying a ticket on a boat is a ticket to a watery grave," the minister told reporters.

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.

They are currently detained on a Customs boat. Lawyers argue that any transfer back to Colombo would be illegal, with concerns about the way they were screened.