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.”

At a press conference today Mr Capiberibe said: “Is [Lula] a political prisoner or what? This man has 30 to 35 per cent of the electoral vote in the polls. This is an incredibly rare case in the history of Brazil.”

Workers Party leader Gleisi Hoffmann said the decision was a “flagrant violation of human rights” as authorities were blocking them from exercising their legal right to visit the popular former president.

Lula has begun a 12-year jail term after being convicted of corruption charges, but his supporters contend that the case was trumped up to prevent the popular leftwinger from contesting the presidency in October’s election.

The charges followed a right-wing “parliamentary coup” in 2016 which ousted then president Dilma Rouseff, Lula’s Workers Party successor. Michel Temer’s coup administration has since scrapped many of Brazil’s social reforms, embarking on a neoliberal austerity programme.

Mass demonstrations erupted across Brazil after Lula was given a deadline of April 8 to turn himself in and start serving his sentence.

Speaking via his lawyers Lula told supporters that he remains convinced that justice will be done and he is appealing against his conviction.