5 Sep 2016

Danish MPs reflect on aborted Nauru trip

1:41 pm on 5 September 2016

A Danish parliamentarian who was meant to visit Nauru last week says his country should adopt Australia's policy of jailing asylum seekers whose identity is not immediately known.

Martin Henriksen of the People's Party made the comment after a study tour of Australia which was to include visiting Canberra's detention camps on Nauru.

However, when Nauru suddenly barred three of Mr Henriksen's parliamantary colleagues, the entire Danish delegation decided to abort the trip.

Danish parliamentarian Naser Khader of the Conservative Party

Parliamentarian Naser Khader of Denmark's Conservative Party Photo: AFP

One of the rejected MPs, Naser Khader of the Conservative Party, told the BT news site that he expects the Danish foreign ministry and the European Union to complain to the Australian authorities.

He says if it had been a security issue, the Danish Intelligence Service PET would have known about, but that was not the case.

The Danish foreign minister Kristian Jensen told the Danish Broadcasting Corporation that that he tried to phone Nauru's justice minister David Adeang but he refused to take the call.

Mr Jensen said he wanted to tell him that it might have been in Nauru's own interest to let the MPs see conditions in the camps for themselves.

Danish Foreign Ministry website

Danish Foreign Ministry website Photo: Danish Government

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