Facebook icon
Twitter icon
e-mail icon

Wives of arrested politicians go on hunger strike

The wives of three politicians who were arrested for their alleged 'LTTE links' began a hunger strike on Thursday after hearing that their husbands will be held in detention for another week.

Umah Devi, wife of Gadek assemblyman G. Saminathan, Sumathy, wife of S. Chandru, businessman and Vimala Jakumaran, wife of Melaka local authority councillor V. Suresh Kumar, started their hunger strike as they are frustrated with and disappointed at the arrests of husbands.

Speaking to Malay Mail, Umah said that Thursday will mark 21 days since her husband has been held in detention, and it will take another week for the court’s decision.

"That makes 28 days, we won’t be seeing my husband. Until now I don’t know what to tell my son. He has been asking me where is ‘appa’ (father). He has also asked me why are we not going Deepavali shopping. What am I to tell him?".

The Kuala Lumpur High Court today set October 31 to hear a habeas corpus application by five of the suspects arrested over alleged links to LTTE.

Read more here

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

For more ways to donate visit https://donate.tamilguardian.com.