Five Tamils in the North have been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) this morning.
Four people in Jaffna were arrested in the early hours on charges of forming groups aimed at reestablishing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), reportedly after having a telephone conversation with individuals arrested on weapons charges in India. Out of the four arrested, two were from the Ilavalai police division, whilst the other two were from Irupalai and Palali.
A 45-year-old man from Puthukudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu was also arrested by the TID for maintaining contact with the four arrested in Jaffna.
All five have reportedly been taken to Colombo for questioning.
The arrests follow the arrest last week of the Mayor of Jaffna by the TID on trumped up charges, which was met with widespread outrage and condemnation across the island and internationally.
Tamil News
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Five Tamils in the North have been arrested by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) this morning.
Four people in Jaffna were arrested in the early hours on charges of forming groups aimed at reestablishing the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), reportedly after having a telephone conversation with individuals arrested on weapons charges in India. Out of the four arrested, two were from the Ilavalai police division, whilst the other two were from Irupalai and Palali...
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(Ottawa, 11 April, 2009. Photo Credit: Ninaivukal)The Tamil Canadian Centre for Civic Action has organised a physical and virtual exhibition showcasing interview, documents, photographs, and...
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The Tamil New Year, which falls on the first day of the month of Chithirai in the Tamil calendar, was celebrated across the Tamil homeland on Wednesday, April 14.
With some referring to the April festival as an exclusively Hindu and sanskritised holiday, there is debate among Tamil communities as...
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Photograph: Amnesty International
Today marks a year since the detention of prominent Muslim human rights lawyer, Hejaaz Hizbullah, who was detained under Sri Lanka’s draconian and internationally condemned Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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Following the unwarranted and internationally condemned arrest of the Mayor of Jaffna, Viswalingam Manivannan, Sri Lanka’s army commander, and accused war criminal, Shavendra Silva visited the province to “evaluate security developments” ahead of New Year festivities.
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File photograph.
A Sri Lankan minister has sparked controversy and a backlash from Germany after claiming that “6.9 million people who voted for Gotabaya Rajapaksa wanted him to be a Hitler”, when speaking about the Sri Lankan president’s 2019 election victory.
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Sri Lanka’s army has announced that it will send 243 army personnel to serve in Mali under the United Nations Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission despite the UN suspending the use of Sri Lankan troops except for “essential” service in 2019.
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During a visit to Vavuniya, last week accused war criminal Gotabaya Rajapaksa expressed the need to “protect” the “ideology” and “force” that made him President and claimed that groups were used to “spread lies about white vans, crocodiles and sharks”; his comments came in the same week in which the elected Mayor of Jaffna V. Mannivannan was arrested by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation...
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The International Truth and Justice Project have called upon the British Foreign Office to abide by its commitments to human rights and impose Magnitsky Sanctions against Sri Lanka’s Army Commander, Shavendra Silva, who is credibly accused of crimes against humanity.
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Heavy deployment of Sri Lankan police and military in Jaffna last month
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Photo of a Sri Lankan Navy vessel
Sri Lanka’s Navy has arrested 30 Tamil fishermen off Poonakary, in northern Kilinochchi, as the navy continues to intensify its patrols.
This announcement follows Fisheries Minister, and accused human rights abuser, Douglas Devananda, introducing a set of restrictions to...
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(Photo provided by the World Bank)
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Sri Lankan police interrogated and threatened the chair of a divisional council in Kilinochchi over the naming of a road after a former cadre of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).
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Writing in The Diplomat, Tasnim Nazeer details Sri Lanka’s ongoing attempts to silence dissenting Muslim voices and highlights the arrest of Azath Salley, a prominent human rights advocate.
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Following the passage of the UN Human Rights Council resolution, which mandated the collection of evidence that may be used in a future war crimes tribunal, Sri Lankan Ambassador to China, Palitha Kohona, has denied UN allegations and defended China’s treatment of its Uighur population.
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Following the release of Jaffna Mayor, Viswalingam Manivannan, Fisheries Minister, and alleged human rights abuser, Douglas Devananda, claimed that Sri Lanka’s President was going to “pardon” Manivannan, despite the lack of any evidence of criminal conduct.
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Residents in Vavuniya are in a state of fear as Sri Lankan police officers visit homes demanding personal information.
Sri Lankan police visited the houses of residents in the garden areas of Vavuniya this week, and handed over forms requesting resident details; stating that they will come back to retrieve the requested information.
Locals state that the request for individual details without any clear information or reasons has created a state of panic among the public.
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A Tamil mother has submitted a complaint at the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Jaffna, after being bombarded with threatening calls for advocating the release of Tamil political prisoners.
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Sri Lanka’s Minister of Public Security Sarath Weerasekara claimed that Naufar Moulavi and Hajjul Akbar, who are members of the Islamic State (IS)-linked National Towheed Jamaat (NTJ), were the masterminds of the Easter Sunday bombings which claimed the lives of over 250 people in 2019.
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Tamil diaspora institutions, including United States Tamil Action Group (USTAG) and People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) have condemned the arrest of Jaffna's Mayor and called for an "unequivocal message" from the international community to signal that his arrest is "an unacceptable abuse of power".
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Responding to the arrest of Jaffna Mayor, Viswalingam Manivannan, under charges of “attempting to resurrect the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), the United National Party have issued a statement condemning the arrest under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and stating that “an inquiry into any alleged wrongdoing […] must be carried out by the relevant Ministry prior to any police...
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Canadian politicians have condemned the arrest of the Mayor of Jaffna V. Manivannan by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) and demanded his immediate release.
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Following Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID)'s arrest of Jaffna Mayor Viswalingam Manivannan, Tamil political leaders have issued stern condemnations of the police and TID’s actions.
Manivannan was arrested under charges of attempting to resurrect the Liberational Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) following...
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UPDATED 1730 GMT
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Addressing a virtual press conference on 5 April, Bangladesh’s Foreign Minister, AK Abdul Momen, defended their vote against the UN Human Rights Council resolution by claiming that it was “politically motivated” and stating that “Sri Lanka has done its own investigation”.
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A Tamil lorry driver who was brutally attacked in public by a Sri Lankan police officer and had his shirt ripped, insisted that he “wants justice” and that “no one should ever have to face this kind of injustice”.
Kalaimakan Praveen, a Tamil lorry driver working in Pannipitiya, was thrown to the ground by a Sri Lankan constable who then proceeded to jump on...
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Writing for ‘Left Foot Forward’, British MP for Leicester East, Claudia Webbe, condemned Britain’s silence on Sri Lanka’s alarming human rights record and calls on the government to impose sanctions on Sri Lanka’s regime.
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Last week Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had a phone conversation with Chinese President Xi Jinping during which he lavished praise for the Communist Party of China (CPC) on its 100th anniversary since its founding and the “strong leadership” of President Xi Jinping.
During the call, he further expressed interest in expanding “expand cooperation in fields like...
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A newly published book from the Swiss-based Puradsi Media and ‘Phoenix - the Next Generation’, provides a historical look back through the early years of the armed struggle.
‘Rise of the Tigers’, the second publication from the organisations, compiles rare photographs, newspaper clippings and in-depth...
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Yet another Tamil father has died after spending over a decade demanding information about the whereabous of his missing son.
Santhanam Raghavan, 65, from Talikulam, Vavuniya, joined other Tamil families of the disappeared for over 1,400 days in roadside protests in the district, demanding justice for...
World News
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The European Union (EU) imposed sanctions on eight Iranian militia officers and police chiefs over a deadly crackdown of protests in November 2019 by the Islamic Republic.
Hossein Salami, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, was amongst those who were sanctioned.
“Hossein Salami took part in the sessions that resulted in the orders to use lethal force to suppress the November 2019 protests. Hossein Salami therefore bears responsibility for serious human rights...
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Photo of US troop in Afghanistan
Following the announcement of US President, Joe Biden, that America would withdraw its forces from Afghanistan by 11th September, Britain has similarly stated that it will withdraw nearly all of its approximately 750 soldiers.
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The British House of Lords has voted down the government’s proposed overseas operation bill which would establish “a presumption against prosecution” for service personnel accused of committing crimes overseas, except for sexual offences, if more than five years had passed since the alleged...
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A Turkish court has jailed for life 22 former soldiers for their involvement in a coup attempt that sought to overthrow President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
A mass trial which concluded on Wednesday investigated nearly 500 soldiers and identified the ex-military personnel as guilty.
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Addressing the media today, Former Myanmar ambassador, Kyaw Zwar Minn, said that staff were forced to leave Myanmar’s embassy and he was dismissed as the country’s representative by Myanmar’s military attaché.
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Britain’s Foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, has announced further sanctions on Myanmar, targeting the military-linked conglomerate Myanmar Economic Corporation (MEC) following the military coup on the 1 February.
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The former United Nations Special Rapporteur on arbitrary executions and renowned human rights law professor Christof Heyns passed away this weekend.
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Tributes have flooded in around the world for Nawal El Saadawi, an Egyptian doctor, feminist and writer, who was a panel member in the 2010 Permanent People’s Tribunal on Sri Lanka which acknowledged the “importance of continuing investigation into the possibility of genocide”.
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Secretary-General of the UN António Guterres stressed the key role that the United Nationals plays in combating deteriorating human rights violations around the globe in his opening remarks at the 46th session of the UNHRC session in Geneva.
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The United Kingdom and Canada announced that they are imposing sanctions on individuals responsible for serious human rights violations against the people of Myanmar during the coup.
UK Foreign Secretary Dominic Raab announced that three Myanmar military generals will face travel bans and their assets will be frozen under the UK's sanctions regime.
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Photo of ICC’s chief prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda
The International Criminal Court (ICC) on Friday determined that it has jurisdiction over the territories occupied by Israel in the 1967 Arab-Israeli conflict, opening the way for the chief prosecutor to inquire into allegations of Israeli war crimes.
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Myanmar’s civilian leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, has been detained by the country’s military following a military coup in which the top army commander, Min Aung Hlaing, seized total control.
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Indian riot police attempted to clear farmers from one of the farmer protest sites in Ghazipur by cutting off water and electricity supplies.
The protesters defiantly refused to leave the site and were joined by thousands of protesters, forcing the police to back down.
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Three British Sikh men of Indian origin have been arrested by the UK police in connection with the murder of Rulda Singh, a member of the Hindu-supremacist organization Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS), in India in 2009.
In a series of dawn raids, Gursharanvir Singh Wahiwala and his brother Amritivir Singh aged 37 and 40 respectively were arrested in Coventry and Piara Singh Gill, 38, was arrested in Wolverhampton.
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As Israel spearheads a massively successful vaccination drive against the coronavirus, reports reveal that the Palestinian population residing in the occupied West Bank and Hamas-ruled Gaza strip is deliberately being left out of the programme by the Israeli government.
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A group of United Nations human rights experts have accused US president Donald Trump of violating international law after he pardoned four Blackwater private security contractors who were serving prison sentences for killing 14 innocent Iraqi civilians, including two children, in Baghdad in 2007.
According to the US Justice...
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The city of Detroit announced last month that it is countersuing Black Lives Matter protestors after a group of organizers sued the local government in late August.
After protests across the USA and around the world over the killing of George Floyd police in May, activists in Detroit sued the local...
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A cross-party statement by British MPs and peers in the House of Lords has condemned the ‘brute force’ the Indian government has used in responding to ‘hundreds of thousands of peacefully protesting farmers’.
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British banks have come under pressure from human rights groups after it was reported that more than $60 million has been lent to a company part-owned and used by the Myanmar military, as it carried out a campaign of ethnic cleansing of Rohingya Muslims.
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Trump supporters have stormed the Capitol to prevent Congress from confirming the victory of President-elect Joseph R. Biden Jr.
Lawmakers have been rushed out of the building following the breach. It came as the representatives debated a move by Republicans to overturn November’s election results.
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The Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has outlined “grave” concern over the government’s handling of people held in Australia’s immigration detention facilities, as it published a report looking into the immigration detention network last month.
The AHRC found that people were being detained for long periods of time – “orders of magnitude greater...
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In reflection of the Australia's grievous history with its Indigenous people, Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced the country's national anthem would be altered from January 1.
Australia will no longer be referred to as “young and free” in the anthem. Instead, people will sing “one and free,” in hopes it will create a “spirit of unity” among its inhabitants and acknowledge people who have lived in Australia tens of thousands of years before colonists.
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As the newly formed cabinet of Yemen arrived in the Southern City of Aden, an explosion killed at least 22 people and injured over 50.
Whilst the Prime Minister and his cabinet are reported to be okay, amongst those killed are aid workers and officials. Yemen’s information minister has accused Houthi rebels of being behind this “cowardly terrorist act”.
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Karima Baloch, 37-year-old Balochistan activist and refugee, has been found dead in Canada following her missing disappearance.
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The Sandinista National Liberation Front, Nicaragua’s ruling party, the Sandinista National Liberation Front, passed a law preventing opposition candidates from running in the 2021 presidential elections.
The new law has granted Nicaragua's president Daniel Ortega and his government the power to unilaterally declare citizens “terrorists” or coup-mongers, classify them as “traitors to the homeland,” inhibiting candidates from running in the election.
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The International Criminal Court (ICC) has refused to investigate allegations of genocide committed by China against the Uighur Muslim minority, rejecting complaints filed by two Uighur exile groups, the East Turkistan Government in Exile and the East Turkistan National Awakening Movement.
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The US has imposed sanction on a key official in Turkey’s Presidency of Defence Industries, Turkey’s military procurement agency, following the procurement of S-400 defence missiles from Russia.
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The US has become the first country to recognise Morocco’s claims over West Sahara, in exchange, Morocco has become the Arab nation to establish diplomatic ties with Israel since August.
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Marking International Human Rights Day, the US and UK announced a new round of sanctions targeting 31 human rights violators from across the globe.