Sri Lanka to boycott Nobel Peace Prize Awarding ceremony

Sri Lanka Ambassador of Norway Rodney Perera has told a radio in Sri Lanka that the state would boycott the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony scheduled to be held on Friday in Oslo.

The Norwegian Nobel Committee has decided to award the Nobel Peace Prize for 2010 to Liu Xiaobo, a political prisoner of China who is serving an 11-year prison term, for his long and non-violent struggle for fundamental human rights in China.

However, China has protested the move and campaigns against it among the nations to boycott the awards ceremony. A number of countries have already expressed that they would not represent the awards ceremony.

Several nations including China, Russia, Saudi Arabia, Serbia, Pakistan, Iraq and Iran have said they will not attend the ceremony. The Nobel committee has said that so far 19 countries had declined the invitation to attend the ceremony.

Sri Lanka Ambassador of Norway Rodney Perera further stated that the decision of Sri Lanka has been informed to the Nobel Committee.