Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) attempted to pressure the families of the disappeared to end their campaign for accountability, as they interrogated a protest leader in Colombo last week.
Tamil News
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Tests for coronavirus on patients in Colombo have all come back as negative so far, according to the Sri Lankan government.
Four people including a Sri Lankan medical student who travelled to the Wuhan province and three Chinese nationals with suspected symptoms of coronavirus had been admitted to the Infectious Diseases Hospital (IDH) in the south.
Fifty-six people have died from the virus in China so far.
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Following President Rajapaksa’s statement that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils were ‘actually dead’, The Woman’s Action Network (WAN), which is comprised of nine women’s group working across the North and East, have released a statement condemning the President’s statement describing it as an “affront to mothers, wives, sisters, and...
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A prominent Sri Lankan Buddhist monk and academic has urged the government to escalate its efforts to ‘dismiss the Tamil Diaspora’ and instead write a ‘victor’s history’ of Sri Lanka.
Medagoda Abhayatissa, a Sinhala Buddhist monk and professor in Pali at the University of Sri Jayewardenepura made the comments in an interview with Sri Lankan...
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The Supreme Court of Canada has effectively upheld the acquittal of three Tamils who were charged with human smuggling following the arrival of a ship carrying hundreds of Tamil asylum seekers to British Columbia.
In a decision on Thursday the court rejected the government’s application for an appeal hearing on the case.
In August 2010, the Canadian navy intercepted the cargo ship MV Sun Sea carrying 492 Tamil asylum seekers from Sri Lanka.
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The case hearing for the investigation into the assassination of former Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Joseph Pararajasingham ruled that the case will be adjourned until February 25th 2020. -
Reporters Without Borders (RSF) has called for “proper police protection” and a “thorough investigation” after journalists in Batticaloa received death threats yesterday, amidst a ramped up climate of harassment of media workers in recent months.
A number of journalists from the Batticaloa district were issued death threats, with leaflets of their photographs circulated warning that they will soon be executed.
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In light of the Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s declaration last week that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead”, People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) and 47 Roots released a video calling on government officials around the world to take action.
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Shavendra Silva, the head of Sri Lanka’s army and a man accused of overseeing war time atrocities, was in Singapore this week, as he took part in an international military conference despite his chequered human rights record.
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At least 13 Sri Lankan soldiers, including the former navy media spokesperson, have been granted bail, despite having been charged over the abduction and possible murder of 11 Tamil youth, after they were forcibly disappeared in 2008 and 2009.
A three member Sri Lankan Permanent High Court panel granted bail to the accused, which includes former spokesperson Commodore DKP Dassanayake.
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The International Court of Justice’s (ICJ) landmark ruling that ordered Myanmar to enact measures to halt the ongoing genocide against the Rohingya is “a ray of hope for victims and survivors of genocide around the world, including Tamils” said People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) in a statement applauding the decision.
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A number of journalists from the Batticaloa district were issued death threats, with leaflets of their photographs circulated warning that they will soon be executed
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Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa has re-issued an Extraordinary Gazette which calls on the Sri Lankan military to “maintain public order” across the island.
Rajapaksa issued the gazette notification on Monday by virtue of the powers vested in him under Section 12 of Sri Lanka’s Public Security ordinance.
The gazette has been extended every month after initially being issued by former Sri Lankan president Maithrtipala Sirisena ever since Emergency...
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Namal Rajapaksa has denied reports that Tamil Nadu actor and politician Rajinikanth had been denied a visa by the government, and instead claimed “there will be no hindrances”.
Last week, Rajinikanth had actually been invited by the former Northern Province Chief Minister C.V. Wigneswaran following his discussion with the...
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Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa was warned by a group of prominent Sinhala Buddhist monks to be “vigilant about the various form of invisible forces that can emerge in the future,” as he went to receive their blessings earlier this month.
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The Sri Lankan military arrested the driver and conductor of a bus travelling from Mannar to Colombo on Saturday evening, after allegedly discovering dynamite sticks on board during a stop...
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Buddhist monks from Ravana Balaya, a Sinhala Buddhist supremacist organisation, and those reportedly who led the racist ‘Sinha Le’ campaign visited a Tamil Hindu temple in Mullaitivu that has been at the centre of a local dispute about land-grabs and Sinhalisation.
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A Sri Lankan soldier stationed in the North murdered a Jaffna University student during a busy afternoon at a public beach earlier today.
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Tamil families of the disappeared held a protest in front of Office of Missing person in Batticaloa on Tuesday, demanding an international mechanism to provide answers to the cases of thousands of forcibly disappeared Tamils.
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Sri Lanka parliamentarian and leader of the National Freedom Front (NFF) Wimal Weerawansa, has forced a signboard in Mannar to be removed and changed to display the Sinhala description above the Tamil description, following a visit to Palmyrah Fibre Production Centre on Sunday.
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An unknown group of men in a white van attempted to intimidate relatives of the Mirusuvil massacre victims earlier this month, as a Sri Lankan parliamentarian claimed the soldier who was convicted of the killings was freed by the president.
The four men reportedly visited neighbours of the relatives on January 11, collecting details of who was staying at each of their properties and their connections to those that were massacred almost 20 years ago.
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Around 500 people in Malaysia – including family members, friends and supporters – congregated to demand the release of the 12 men that were arrested in October for alleged links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), which is still labelled as a ‘terrorist organisation’ in the country.
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(Video Credit: Yardstick Films)
'Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes', a new book which has just been released, uncovers how a British mercenary company formed by ex-Special Air Service (SAS) veterans carried out highly controversial secret operations across the world, including in Sri Lanka.
Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), a...
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The house of a Tamil local news journalist has been attacked and vandalised by a group of unidentified men in Mannipay, Jaffna.
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The Sri Lankan government is planning to pass laws granting immunity to members of its intelligence services who have been accused of grave human rights violations, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) reports.
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A court in Germany has convicted a Tamil man of being involved in the 2005 assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, despite claims that his words had been mistranslated during his asylum interview.
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Sri Lankan police in Jaffna have been accused of torturing two Tamils in Jaffna this week, leaving them both with broken limbs.
The two Tamil men were arrested by Kayts police and accused of theft. They allege that once taken to the police station, they both were beaten and tortured by police officers - to the point that they both had broken arms.
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The European Union (EU) tweeted that the renewal of GSP plus trade preferences for Sri Lanka was not “automatic”, warning that it was related to the “effective implementation of 27 international conventions, related to human and labour rights, environment and good governance”.
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The Sri Lankan military interrogated a Tamil youth in Jaffna on Saturday, after accusing him of leading a campaign which has seen growing calls for the removal of a military base from the local area.
Soldiers reportedly raided the house of the youth in Chulipuram on Friday evening, and told his family that he was to be summoned for questioning the next day.
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Amnesty International has expressed concern about reports of attacks, harassment and intimidation of human rights organisations as well as media organisations and journalists in Sri Lanka in the period since the Easter Sunday bombings.
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Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the United Nations’ resident co-ordinator on the island that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead”, in a widely condemned declaration on Friday.
According to the...
World News
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The International Court of Justice reached a preliminary decision on Thursday as all 17 judges voted to order Myanmar to protect the Rohingya population from genocide.
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UK Prime Minister, Boris Johnson, has rejected Scottish demands for a second independence referendum, nicknamed indyref2, stating that it would simply perpetuate stagnation and that the 2014 referendum was predicated on the idea that it was a “once in a generation” vote.
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Victims of the Nepal Civil War have criticised and voiced their discontent over the government’s decision to revive the transitional justice process, this week.
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A senior government diplomat for China has condemned the election of Taiwan’s President Taiwan pro-independence President Tsai Ing-wen; stating that “those who split the country will be doomed to leave a stink for 10,000 years”.
President Tsai Ing-wen was rejected in a context of growing Chinese aggression and she successfully campaigned on a...
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Just over a year since a dispute over the access to traditional territory in Northern British Columbia (B.C.) arose between Wet'suwet'en people and a pipeline company, tensions between the two parties have re-emerged.
The Wet’suwet’en chiefs have incessantly opposed the $6.6-billion project, which would connect gas fields in North-Eastern B.C. with the planned LNG Canada export plant in Kitimat. Last week they issued eviction notices to Coastal GasLink workers to vacate the premises...
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A UN Joint Human Rights Office (UNJHRO) investigation into the Dominican Republic of Congo (DRC) has revealed that at least 701 people from the Hema and Lendu communities in the northeast province of Ituri, DRC, from December 2017 to September 2018, raising concerns of “crimes against humanity.
The report details the DRC’s security forces engaged in actions or arbitrary arrests, detentions, executions and sexual violence. The DRC has been actively deployed to this region in February...
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Kenneth Roth, Human Rights Watch’s executive director has reported that he was denied entry to Hong Kong where he was set to launch HRW’s latest annual report. -
Two days after an attack on Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) university students and staff, Delhi police, who have been criticised for turning a blind eye on the attack, has filed charges against several students for attacking security guards and vandalising a server room.
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The United States has released a statement confirming that they will be imposing sanctions on Taban Teng Gai, South Sudan's first vice president, over allegations that Gai was involved in the killing of opposition politicians and strengthen his political standing.
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Israel has approved the construction of 1,936 illegal settlements on Sunday and Monday, according to activist group Peace Now – adding that such settlement buildings have greatly increased under Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu who has received strong political backing from US President Donald Trump.
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Human Rights Watch (HRW) has condemned India’s police force following an incident in Delhi in which dozens of masked men and several women, who claimed to be BJP supporters, stormed the Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) and went on a 3-hour rampage in which over 30 students and teachers were attacked.
This follows an instance on 15 December when police stormed Jamia Millia Islamia campus following protests against the Indian citizenship amendment. HRW reports that the police attacked...
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Four Rohingya children were killed in Rakhine, the northern state of Myanmar, in a landmine explosion on Tuesday.
Neither the state nor the Arakan Army, an ethnic Rakhine armed group fighting for more autonomy in the region, have accepted responsibility for the attack.
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Armed forces in Libya loyal to opposition leader Khalifa Haftar claim to have taken control of Sirte, a key coastal city, as conflict continues to rage in the country.
The capture of Sirte marks an important gain to Haftar, who has been staging a military offensive on the capital, Tripoli since April. Tripoli is home to Libya’s UN-backed Government of National Accord (GNA).
Sirte has been controlled by forces affiliated with GNA since the expulsion of the Islamic State...
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Pakistan’s Prime Minister, Imran Khan, released a statement yesterday, urging the United Nations to support a free and impartial plebiscite in Jammu and Kashmir to support their right to self-determination.
In his statement, he stressed the importance of respecting this right to self-determination whilst also casting blame upon India for inaction by the UN Security Council. He further chastised India for human rights abuses and accused the nation of keeping the region under illegal...
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Following the US assassination of Iran’s chief General, Qasem Soleimani, Iraq’s parliament has voted to expel the approximately 5,200 US troops stationed in their country.
The bill was passed through Iraqi parliament on Sunday 170-0 however many of the representatives, particularly Kurdish and Sunni representatives, did not attend the session to vote.
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Spain’s electoral board has ordered that pro-independence Catalan presidency Quim Torra be disqualified from being a member of the region’s parliament, meaning he would lose his presidential post.
The decision came on Friday, after Torra was last month convicted and banned from holding public office for 18 months ...
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The English Football Association (FA) has charged Barnsley Football Club with sectarian abuse of Stoke FC player, James McClean.
The FA has stated that Barnsley FC had not effectively stopped abuse from its supporters. The association saw “abusive and/or insulting words which included a reference, whether express or implied, to nationality and/or religion and/or beliefs" in the match on November 9, 2019.
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Southern Yemen separatists have rejected a peace deal, brokered agreement by Saudi Arabia, known as the Riyadh agreement.
The Riyadh agreement would permit the separatist Southern Transitional Council (STC) to establish a national cabinet but would place armed forces under the controls of Yemen’s government, which is recognised by the international community.
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Iranian opposition website, Kaleme, has reported that at least 631 people have been killed in protests against the rise in fuel prices which began on 15 November.
The actual figure of those who died during the protests has been disputed as Reuters has reported the death toll was closer to 1,500...
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US President Donald Trump was pictured with a former US Navy Seal who was granted clemency after being committed for war crimes.
Chief petty Officer Eddie Gallagher, who had initially been cleared by a military jury of murder but was convicted with posing with the body of a dead teenage Islamic State fighter, was pictured with Trump in Florida last week.
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Dozens of political prisoners have been released form Nicaragua, following the strengthening of US sanctions on the country and hunger strikes from the mothers of those being detained.
The Nicaraguan government said that at least 91 prisoners had been released, but the New York Times reported that it remained unclear whether their sentences have been converted to a form of house arrest or if the charges had been dropped.
Many of those arrested were detained after taking part in...
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A mother of a British woman who was convicted in Cyprus after authorities claimed she had lied about being raped, has called for a tourism boycott of the country.
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Some 400 protestors were arrested by police in Hong Kong after hundreds of thousands of people reportedly attended a New Year’s Day march in the city, in the latest round of anti-government demonstrations.
Riot police were deployed and tear gas fired after police officials blamed radical protestors for “hijacking” the march, which was initially permitted by authorities before they attempted to shut it down.
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The Indian government announced it will begin plans for a third lunar mission this year, named “Chandrayaan-3”.
The head of India’s space agency K Sivan made the announcement on Wednesday, stating the project “may spill over” into 2021.
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A Sudanese court has sentenced 29 intelligence officers to death by hanging for torturing and killing a teacher.
Ahmad al-Khair, 36, was arrested and kept in custody due to taking part in the protests against former president Omar al-Bashir in February this year. His family were told by security officials that Ahmed al-Khair died from food poisoning but a state investigation later revealed he had died due to injuries sustained through beating.
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The UN has passed a non-binding resolution calling on Myanmar to stop the incitement of violence and hatred against Rohingya and other communities.
During a brutal military crackdown in the northern state of Rakhine over 700,000 Rohingya were forced to flee and thousands were killed in 2017.
This resolution follows Aung San Suu Kyi’s denial of genocide at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at the Hague earlier this month.
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Guam, which is a US territory, has filed an appeal against a court decision which denied the right of Guam to hold a vote on independence based on the principal of self-determination.
The court ruled that such a vote would violate the constitution as it is ‘race-based’ and contradicts the Fifteenth Amendment.
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Human Rights Watch has reported that human rights activist and lawyer, Gamal Eid, the executive director of the Arabic Network for Human Rights Information (ANRHI), was attacked for the second time since October by what appears to be the Egyptian security force. -
Yogi Adityanath, chief minister of Uttar Pradesh and hardline Hindu priest within the BJP, has defended the use of excessive force against protesters.
Protests against India’s Citizenship amendment have persisted across the country. In Uttar Pradesh, there have been the most deaths. Since the bill passed in May at least 23 people have been killed.
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Prime Minister of Mauritius, Pravind Jugnauth, has accused the UK of committing "crimes against humanity" for refusing to allow people to return to their former homes on the Chagos Islands.
Speaking to the BBC, Mr Jugnauth said that he is considering bringing charges of crimes against humanity against individual British officials at the International Criminal Court (ICC).