Bob Carr may no longer be in parliament, but that hasn’t stopped him being a cruel, sadistic liar.

At a press conference on 8 July, Carr – formerly Australia’s foreign minister – claimed that the extensive evidence of abuse of Tamils was an “urban myth” invented by refugee advocates. The facts tell a very different story.

Sri Lanka’s genocidal regime launched an all-out war in 2009, ostensibly against the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), in which tens of thousands of people – mostly Tamil civilians – were slaughtered. Extensive evidence of war crimes exists, including videos showing regime forces carrying out summary executions of prisoners, many of whom showed signs of being tortured or sexually assaulted.

Many people who were not LTTE fighters or even supporters were also rounded up and held in internment camps, with family members of LTTE supporters in particular being targeted. According to the Committee to Protect Journalists, Sri Lanka is more dangerous for journalists than Syria or Afghanistan.

Even the Department of Foreign Affairs recognises the danger to Australians considering visiting Sri Lanka, and tells them to exercise a high degree of caution:

“The Prevention of Terrorism Act remains in place and permits prolonged detention without charge or trial. Non-Sri Lankan citizens of Sri Lankan heritage have been detained on occasion by Sri Lankan Police or security forces. Australians are encouraged to keep their passports with them at all times and to ask to contact the Australian High Commission if detained.

“There have been incidents of violence against aid workers and political activists, including in Jaffna, Vavuniya and the Eastern Province. Journalists have been victims of violent assault and intimidation, including in Colombo.”

The Sinhalese chauvinist government is led by Mahinda Rajapaksa, who was the architect of the civil war. According to both Wikileaks and Sarath Foneska, a former army commander, Rajapaksa and his brother ordered many of the worst war crimes. The only high profile arrest related to these crimes was that of Foneska, who was targeted for whistleblowing.

Furthermore, no one has ever been brought to justice for the 1983 Black July pogroms against Tamils, in which around 3,000 people were killed by Sinhalese chauvinist mobs with the help of the military.

This is the situation that Carr says it is safe to return refugees to – where security forces can torture, rape and kill with impunity, where journalists are targeted, where the government is run by war criminals and where atrocities against Tamils go unpunished.