A Tamil political prisoner who has been in detention for 15 years, has been released from jail this month after being acquitted of all charges.
45-year-old Thevarasa Sivapalan was arrested in Wattala in 2006 by Sri Lanka’s Terrorrism Investigation Division, who claimed he was smuggling arms to Colombo.
He was detained under Sri Lanka’s draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
Sivapalan had been detained at the Negombo Prison for the past 15 years pending trial. Earlier this week, he was acquitted by the Colombo High Court.
He has a daughter who was just a 1-year-old when he was arrested. Sivapalan is now looking to be reunited with his family.
Earlier this year, yet another Tamil political prisoner was acquitted after being held for 12 years in a Sri Lankan prisoner under the PTA.
For years, Tamils and organisations around the world have called for the act to be scrapped. Sri Lanka however, continues to routinely deploy it to hold critics and dissidents of the regime, particular across the Tamil North-East.
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