Sri Lanka ex-leader Gotabaya Rajapaksa seeks entry into Thailand

Former President Gotabaya Rajapaksa, who fled Sri Lanka amid mass protests, requests entry into Thailand after weeks in Singapore.

Rajapaksa fled Sri Lanka amid widespread anti-government protests

Former Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa has requested entry into Thailand for a temporary stay in a second Southeast Asian country after fleeing his island nation last month amid mass protests, the Thai foreign ministry has said.

Rajapaksa fled to Singapore on July 14 following widespread demonstrations over Sri Lanka’s worst economic crisis in seven decades, and days after thousands of protesters stormed the president’s official residence and office over acute shortages of food, fuel and medicine.

He then resigned from the presidency, becoming the first Sri Lankan head of state to quit mid-term.

Rajapaksa is expected to leave Singapore and head to Thailand’s capital Bangkok on Thursday, the Reuters news agency reported, citing two sources who asked not to be named. Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

There was no immediate comment from the Sri Lankan embassy in Singapore, which had supported Rajapaksa’s attempt to stay longer in the city-state.

Tanee Sangrat, a Thai foreign ministry spokesman, said Rajapaksa holds a diplomatic passport that allows him entry into the country for 90 days. He did not say when Rajapaksa intended to visit.

 

Child feared dead on Greek islet where refugees are stranded

A five-year-old Syrian girl has reportedly died, with her parents and dozens others awaiting rescue following alleged pushbacks.

Baida, a Syrian refugee, is among the group of asylum seekers who remain stranded on a Greek islet 

Athens, Greece – A five-year-old Syrian girl, who was among a group of refugees and migrants, is understood to have died on a Greek islet on the Evros River.

Her parents have submerged the girl’s body in river water in an attempt to keep it cool, as Greek authorities appear unable to locate the group.

Those still on the islet with the girl’s remains say she died in the early hours of Tuesday after being stung by a scorpion, two days after they were stranded there.

Another girl, who is nine, remains in critical condition. She is also understood to have been stung by a scorpion.

They are part of a group of 39 asylum seekers, some of whom are trapped for a second time on this unnamed islet after repeated alleged pushbacks between Turkey and Greece.

One member of the group, 27-year-old Baida, also from Syria, has been sending frantic messages to lawyers and journalists since the reported death.

“A girl died. A child. She’s dead. I can do nothing,” she said in a WhatsApp voice note sent to a group including this reporter.

She posted photos of the girl on her back with her eyes closed, lying on a patch of grass on the islet.

In another message, she questioned why the children have not received any help.

“No one hears our voices,” she said.

“If you hear our voices please help us,” Baida said. “The other girl might die tomorrow.”

The refugees say they were forced on the islet by Turkish authorities on August 7.

The Evros land border is a frequent crossing point for those wishing to claim asylum in Europe, but many reports have documented violent Greek pushbacks in recent months, as well as incidents where people have been made to cross by Turkish authorities.

The stranded refugees and migrants wish to claim asylum in Greece.

Greek authorities have been notified of their location and activists have made emergency calls on their behalf to police, but officials say that they have not been able to locate the group.

On Tuesday, the European Court of Human Rights issued an order stating that the trapped asylum seekers should not be removed from Greek territory and that they should be provided with food, water and adequate medical care.

In their messages, members of the group describe what amounts to a geopolitical ping-pong game, being pushed back and forth across the land border by Greek and Turkish authorities for weeks in the highly militarised border zone in which no lawyer, human rights organisations or journalists can legally enter.

Some were originally stranded in the same location in late July, having tried to cross the border from Turkey.

They say they survived on food scraps, nuts and muddy water from the river before being returned to Turkey by Greek authorities.

Then, they accused Turkish authorities of holding them in military barracks, and later bringing them back across to the river and ordering them — at gunpoint — to cross again into Greek territory.

Al Jazeera has contacted Greek and Turkish officials in an attempt to verify the details of these alleged incidents but had not received a response by the time of writing.

Longtime foes, NATO members Athens and Ankara are currently locked in rows on several fronts, including the refugee issue and oil and gas exploration in the Eastern Mediterranean.