On Friday, four Tamil political prisoners, arrested under the heavily criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), were released from Anuradhapura Jail after being acquitted by the Vavuniya High Court.
The political prisoners released included: Nadesan Dharmarasa from Jaffna, Joseph Sebastian from Vavuniya, Nadarasa Sarveshwaran, from Kilinochchi and Jaffna University professor Kanesasundaram Kannadasan.
Nadarasa Sarveshwaran was taken prisoner in 2016 under the draconian PTA. Two years later, in 2018, a case was filed against him in the Vavuniya High Court. He has now been acquitted and released after being deemed innocent by the court.
Nadesan Dharmarasa and Joseph Sebastian were both incarcerated on suspicion of terrorism under the PTA in 2013. After five years of imprisonment, in 2018, charges were levelled against them in the Vavuniya court. The court has now acquitted both Dharmarasa and Sebastian after eight years of imprisonment.
In 2017, Joseph Sebastian's wife, Rita Joseph Sebastian, spoke to the Jaffna Press Club about her husband's imprisonment stating, "With no investigation whatsoever since [Sebastian's arrest in 2013], my husband has been imprisoned for the last four years … Why have no charges been levelled against him, nor any trial taken place in the last 4 years? This government must answer."
In 2018, Joseph Sebastian, alongside 42 other political prisoners, took part in a hunger strike demanding to be tried or released. During his strike, he was admitted to the hospital following a decline in his health.
Jaffna University professor, Kanesasundaram Kannadasan, was also released on Thursday, a year after his life sentence was overturned.
Read more here: Jaffna University lecturer finally released 2 years after acquittal
In June, The Sri Lankan government granted presidential pardons to 16 alleged "former members of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE)."
However, in a statement, Human Rights Watch highlighted that the Sri Lankan government's pardoning of 16 political prisoners is welcomed but merely an "empty gesture" that fails to urgently address the need to repeal the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
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