Human Rights Watch (HRW) have issued a press release demanding that the UK suspend immediately deportations of Tamils with links to the LTTE or those that may have been politically active against the Sri Lankan authorities in the UK.

Extracts from the press release follow:

“The Sri Lankan security forces have long used torture against people deemed to be linked to the LTTE,and growing evidence indicates that Tamils who have been politically active abroad in peaceful opposition to the government may be subject to torture and other ill-treatment.

30 asylum seekers who arrived from Sri Lanka have been transferred from Christmas Island to Nauru, as Australia restarted its controversial offshore processing scheme.

The men will remain at a camp in the Pacific island of Nauru in temporary tents until permanent accommodation has been constructed. They will stay on the island until their claims for asylum have been processed.

The British Border and Immigration Agency is planning to deport hundreds of Tamils, reported The Independent.

Three charter planes are reported to have been hired by the British government, with two scheduled to depart Wednesday and one on Thursday next week.

There have been several instances of Tamil deportees being tortured on their arrival in Sri Lanka.

The newspaper reported that although there are criminals and visa overstayers, several of those deported are failed asylum seekers.

The Independent said it has seen a new report which details the cases of 24 individuals from Sri Lanka who returned voluntarily were tortured and interrogated.

David Mepham, the UK head of Human Rights Watch, said the organisation had also documented several cases of tortured Tamils.

"Given the very serious risk of torture facing many Tamils returned from this country, the UK should immediately impose a moratorium on these returns, pending a thorough review of UK policy in this area and the introduction of new risk assessment guidelines."

The US Assistant Sectretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert O'Blake, urged the Sri Lankan government to show "accelerated progress" in ensuring political rights for Tamils in the North-East.

Speaking to journalists during a three day tour of Sri Lanka and the North-East, Blake said he had "emphasised the importance of progress in reducing the role and profile of the military in the North, and full respect for human rights."

Addressing the American Chamber of Commerce on Friday, the US Assistant Secretary of State for South and Central Asia, Robert O'Blake described that foreign investors found Sri Lanka's marketplace an "uphill battle" although it was 3 years after the end of the armed conflict.

Highlighting "opaque" rules, "unpredictable government regulations" and "corruption" as key causes of poor foreign investment, Blake urged Sri Lanka to open up the market, particularly through the liberalisation of rules for foreign direct investment.

See here for Blake's address in full. Extracts published below:

"USAID has established Public-Private Alliances with Sri Lankan companies to expand operations into the North and East to create new opportunities and better livelihoods.  These partnerships are helping to re-activate the local economies of the North and East and laying the groundwork for sustainable economic growth that provides opportunities for all Sri Lankans.  We believe that creating economic opportunity must go hand in hand with political reconciliation."

Speaking after an investigatory visit to the former war zones of Mullaitivu, Vadamaradchchi east, Kokkilai and Naayaru areas, the leader of the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam said that there is currently a systematic campaign, with a motive to “eliminate the very existence of the traditional Tamil nation as a whole”, reported JDS on Friday.

Describing an evident mechanism that was decimating the traditional Tamil nation in the area, Ponnambalam said,

"While preventing the war-affected Tamil people from carrying out fishing livelihood in their native places, the government and the security forces have established systematic Sinhala settlements in these areas and allowed them to carryout fishing at their will with full protection.”

Eye witness testimonies of the events of 2009 describe how Tamils were deliberately targeted by the Sri Lankan armed forces during the final stages of the conflict, and how such targetting continues despite the government's claims of victory.

The testimonies, gathered by researchers at the rights group, Tamils Against Genocide (TAG), are detailed within the group's submission to the UN Human Rights Council's, 2nd cycle Universal Periodic Review (UPR) session on Sri Lanka next month. 

Dismissing Douglas Devananda's recent attempt to fight his Indian arrest warrant through video conferencing from Colombo, the Tamil Nadu's public prosecutor M Prabhavathy, said:

"The accused Anandan [Devananda's former alias] was arrested in the year 1986, now Douglas Devananda claims that he is the said Anandan who is holding a constitutional seat now."

"It is also known that in conflict zones, medical professionals are deliberately targeted by those involved.

The Secretary-General of the Commonwealth Kamalesh Sharma has requested Canada to drop the threat to boycott next year’s Commonwealth Head of Government Meeting in Sri Lanka, reported AFP on Thursday.

"My message to all leaders is to participate at this (Sri Lanka) CHOGM," he told reporters in Colombo on Wednesday, after discussions with President Mahinda Rajapakse at the end of a five day visit to the island.

"I understand a dialogue is going on between the two countries," he said, saying that he hoped the issue would be "resolved" so that Canada could attend the summit.