Amnesty International has called on Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa to revoke the presidential pardon issued for Sergeant Sunil Rathnayake who was convicted for the Mirusuvil massacre where eight Tamil civilians were killed including three children.

A 40-year-old Tamil man has been arrested on suspicion of murder after two children were found stabbed to death at their east London home on Sunday evening, in an incident that has highlighted issues around mental health in the Tamil community.

The children were identified as 19-month-old Pavinya, who was pronounced dead at the scene, and three-year-old Nigish who died at hospital. The man, reported to be the father of the two children, is currently receiving treatment at a London hospital and remains under police guard.

The Tamil Civil Society Forum (TCSF) has put forward a set of eight questions to the Sri Lankan government on its coronavirus response, calling for greater transparency in how Colombo’s actions during the pandemic.

At least  248 sailors at a Sri Lankan naval base have currently tested positive for the coronavirus admitted authorities, in what has been the biggest outbreak of the virus on the island so far.

Memorial events were held across the Tamil homeland this week to mark 15 years since the assassination of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam ‘Taraki’ Sivaram.

Tens of thousands of Eelam Tamil refugees in India are bracing themselves for the fallout of a lockdown and any potential coronavirus outbreaks in the refugee camps that they have been trapped in for decades, wrote Kavitha Muralidharan for Firstpost last week.

At least 54,000 Eelam Tamils live as refugees in 107 camps across Tamil Nadu, she said, including a special camp in Tiruchy that houses ‘offenders’. A further 32,000 Eelam Tamils live outside of camps.

A small war-impacted school in Mullaitivu celebrated as two of its students, both who were left paralyzed from the waist down by Sri Lankan military attacks in 2009, achieved top marks in their O-Level exam results this week.

One of the schoolchildren, Vidurshika, spoke to the Tamil Guardian at her home in Mullaitivu the day after she received her results.

She was just 6-years-old when a Sri Lankan soldier shot her in the back.

Marking 15 years since the assassination of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram, we have reproduced a speech delivered by former Tamil Guardian editor Vino Kanapathipillai at a commemoration for the slain journalist in 2010.

This speech was delivered in London on Aril 29, 2010 at the fifth anniversary of the death of Sivaram. 

Marking 15 years since the killing of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram, popularly known as ‘Taraki’, we have reproduced his final written piece.

The article, written in Tamil for the Colombo-based Virakesari newspaper, was published on Sunday April 24, 2005 - just days before Sivaram was murdered.

Today marks the fifteenth anniversary since the abduction and murder of Tamil journalist Dharmeratnam Sivaram.

Sivaram, popularly known under his nom-de-plume Taraki, was abducted in front of Bambalipitiya police station in Colombo on April 28 and was found dead several hours later in a high security zone in Sri Lanka's capital, which at the time had a heavy police and military presence due to the ongoing conflict. His killers, highly suspected to be linked to the government of then-president Chandrika Kumaratunga, were never caught.

The Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) has condemned the Sri Lanka military’s use of buildings in the North-East to construct quarantine facilities for its armed forces.

Former Sri Lanka parliamentarian and General Secretary of TNPF, Selvarajah Kajendren, released a statement on behalf of their party.

Parents, staff and locals in Mullaitivu have protested against Sri Lanka military using schools in Mullaitivu to construct quarantine centres for army personnel suspected of coronavirus (COVID-19).

Around 60 parents of students at Muththuiyankaddu school in Oddusuddan, Mullaitivu led a safe protest in front of the school, where they observed social distancing measures, yesterday evening.