BRAZILIAN authorities were accused of “flagrant violations of human rights” today after a delegation was prevented from visiting former president Luiz Inacio “Lula” da Silva in jail.

The group was refused entry after arriving in Curitiba in a visit organised by the Brazilian senate’s human rights commission.

Workers Party senator Joao Capiberibe slammed the decision. A delegation including former Uruguayan president Jose “Pepe” Mujica and Nobel prize-winner Adolfo Perez Esquivel was also turned away on the grounds that it was a “political visit.”