Aspiring Sri Lankan politician gains refugee status in NZ amid threats

• A Sri Lankan woman was granted refugee status after facing threats and sextortion in politics.
• Gunmen surrounded her house, and she received death threats linked to a prominent MP.
• The tribunal noted escalating harassment of women in Sri Lankan politics, impacting her safety.

By Gill Bonnett of RNZ

An aspiring Sri Lankan politician – who was sidelined because she was a woman – found her house surrounded by gunmen, and was also a victim of sextortion, a tribunal has heard.

The 32-year-old has been granted refugee status in New Zealand.

She said a prominent MP’s associates suggested she should have sex with him to further her career and now held a grudge against her, after a friend posted on social media about the incident.

He ran in presidential elections in 2020 in Sri Lanka, but did not succeed.

After her brother-in-law died in a motorcycle crash, a note was found on his coffin at his funeral, saying she would be next to be killed.

She received two threatening phone calls and a motorbike was ridden directly towards her at speed.

The immigration and protection tribunal heard that a group of men firing gunshots gathered around her house demanding she leave politics, the day before regional elections in 2018.

The tribunal said country sources suggested that harassment of women in politics in Sri Lanka was escalating.

“The appellant has told the tribunal that she would not dare to become involved in politics again in Sri Lanka for fear for her life. She states that entering politics was ‘the worst decision of my life’ and that she ‘lost herself’ and feels ‘dead inside’.”

She feared the politician would kill her if she returned to Sri Lanka in “revenge against her for destroying his political career”.

Her parents' house caught fire in 2022, which she believed may also have been his doing by capitalising on a period of unrest.

A friend’s evidence summarised what happened: “She has been prevented from pursuing a political career owing to threats from various persons in opposing parties and from [the MP], who attempted to force her into a sexual relationship with him. A friend recorded this matter publicly on Facebook and the post received over a hundred views before the friend was forced to take it down.”