Father Sakthivel, the head of the National Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners, urged the government to release all political prisoners.
Speaking at a meeting with the organisation and the leader of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA), R Sampanthan, Father Sakthivel said around 107 political prisoners were currently imprisoned.
The past 3 years have seen a number of protests across the North-East of families of those imprisoned calling for their release. Many have been held without charge indefinitely under Sri Lanka's notorious anti-terror legislation, the Prevention of Terrorism Act.
The president has however previously denied even the existence of political prisoners, saying that NGOs were behind any protests.
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