Sri Lanka rejects veracity of pictures of bloodstained bodies of bound and blindfolded Tamils

The BBC reports that Sri Lanka’s foreign minister has cast doubt on newly released photos that are said to show a massacre of Tamils during the country’s civil war. On an official UK visit, GL Peiris said images published by the Global Tamil Forum were a bid by rebel sympathisers to tarnish Sri Lanka’s image. [...]

Human rights groups decline to appear before Sri Lankan reconciliation commission

When Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister Gamini Lakshman Peiris was at the United Nations last month, he challenged human rights groups to appear before a government-appointed ‘Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission’ (LLRC) probing human rights violations during the country’s civil war. Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch and the International Crisis Group have accused both the [...]

Sri Lanka Tamil Tiger spokesman ‘missing after arrest’

The BBC reports that two prominent Tamil Tiger leaders in Sri Lanka are missing after arrest by the army last year, their wives have told a presidential commission. LTTE spokesman Rasiah Ilantherian and head of the Tiger intelligence wing in Batticaloa, Prabha have not been seen since being detained, they said. The two wives were [...]

ICJ paper on Sri Lanka’s mass detention of LTTE Suspects

Although the conflict between the Government of Sri Lanka (GoSL) and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) ended in May 2009, the GoSL continues to detain approximately eight thousand individuals under administrative detention without charge or trial.  “Beyond Lawful Constraints: Sri Lanka’s Mass Detention of LTTE Suspects” addresses the human rights concerns arising from [...]

Sri Lanka: US Report Shows No Progress on Accountability

A US State Department report released on August 11, 2010, shows that Sri Lanka has not yet conducted an effective investigation into laws-of-war violations by government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the final months of the war that ended in May 2009, Human Rights Watch said. The report states [...]

Canada man pleads guilty in first terrorism fundraising case

[JURIST] Canadian resident Prapaharan Thambithurai pleaded guilty Tuesday to raising money for the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in the nation’s first case involving fundraising for a banned terrorist group. Thambithurai admitted raising between $2,000 and $3,000 between late 2007 and March 2008, acknowledging that he knew part of the money would go to [...]

Sri Lanka ex-chief justice criticizes military trial for detained opposition leader

[JURIST] The former chief justice of the Supreme Court of Sri Lanka on Monday 15 March criticized the government’s treatment of detained opposition leader General Sarath Fonseka. Sarath Nanda Silva, who retired from the Sri Lankan Supreme Court last year, accused the government of using the military justice system to prevent Fonseka from participating in [...]

UN SG proceeding with Sri Lanka rights panel

[JURIST] UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said on 16 March that he would not delay his plan to set up a UN panel to investigate allegations of human rights violations during the Sri Lankan civil war. Ban made the statement during a press conference in response to a question about a letter from the Non-Aligned Movement [...]

Coercion of prominent human rights advocates in Sri Lanka

The International Bar Association’s Human Rights Institute (IBAHRI) is alarmed at reports of intimidation and the possibility of criminal charges being brought against prominent human rights lawyer and Executive Director of Transparency International, Sri Lanka (TISL), Mr J C Weliamuna, and Dr Paikiasothy Saravanamuttu, Executive Director of the Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA). According to [...]

Sri Lanka: emergency laws extended

On 9 March 2010, Sri Lanka’s Parliament, which had been dissolved, met for a short session to approve a one-month extension for the nation’s emergency laws. President Mahinda Rajapaksa had signed a proclamation to that effect on 1 March. With three opposition parties voting against the extension, it passed on a 93-24 vote. Speaking against [...]