A Tamil youth was arrested in Kopay, Jaffna earlier this month for having a photo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on his smartphone.
Kopay police filed a B report against the youth on charges of "inciting or attempting to incite hatred" under Section 120 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code. The Jaffna Magistrate Court conducted a case hearing the following day where the arrested youth was produced before the court.
The youth was reportedly arrested after the police were alerted about the alleged photograph on his phone.
The arrest forms part of Sri Lanka's ongoing crackdown in the North-East and the recent spike in arrests by Sri Lankan security forces on trumped up charges, including the recent arrest of Jaffna Mayor V Mannivannan.
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