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Tamil political prisoners face risk of coronavirus infection – ITAK Leader

Tamil political prisoners – some of whom have been held for up to 24 years – are being held in prisons where others have been infected with coronavirus and face “imminent danger of spreading it further among them,” warned Illankai Tamil Arasu Kachchi (ITAK) leader Mavai Senathirajah, in a letter to Sri Lanka’s president this week.

“In foreign countries such persons under detention for long time are being temporarily released by order of Courts and continued to under detention in their own homes and some prisoners are bailed out/set free subjected to conditions dictated by courts,” said Senathirajah.

“As it is now even some prisoners/suspects held in prisons are also already infected with corona virus and others are faced with imminent danger of spreading it further among them,” he continued. “The relatives of these prisoners are not being allowed to visit them at present and as a result they are being subjected to severe mental pain and stress.”

See the full text of his letter below.

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