Sceptical response to Sri Lankan PM's invitation to asylum seekers

Human rights and refugee advocates say they're sceptical about the Sri Lankan prime minister's claim that asylum seekers will not be punished if they return home.

Sri Lanka's Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe (right) and Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull Source: AAP

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe is in Australia on an official visit.

Hundreds of Sri Lankans, mostly members of the Tamil ethnicity, tried to seek asylum in Australia at the end of a bloody, decades-long civil war in 2009.

The Sri Lankan PM today promised those now in Australian detention centres will be safe if they return home.

But refugee advocates say they have serious concerns about ongoing allegations of torture in the South Asian nation.