Sri Lankan legislator Namal Rajapaksa, son of former President Mahinda Rajapaksa, has said U.S. authorities denied him permission to fly to Texas from Moscow. He went to the Russian capital as an observer for the recent presidential election.
In a tweet on Thursday, the 31-year-old MP said: “Emirates Air #Moscow informs I won’t make my Houston Flight as #US Officials instruct them to not let me board. Valid reason yet to be received. US has the Sovereign right of course. Sure it has nothing to do with my name, being part of #lka opposition or my travel from #Russia.”
According to Mr. Rajapaksa’s office, the lawmaker holds a valid visa to the U.S. and is yet to receive any information from the U.S. embassies in Colombo, or Moscow about being disallowed to travel. U.S. Embassy sources in Colombo said U.S. law prohibited them from discussing individual visa cases.
Namal Rajapaksa and his brother have been charged with money-laundering.
