The house of a Tamil local news journalist has been attacked and vandalised by a group of unidentified men in Mannipay, Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan government is planning to pass laws granting immunity to members of its intelligence services who have been accused of grave human rights violations, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) reports.

A court in Germany has convicted a Tamil man of being involved in the 2005 assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, despite claims that his words had been mistranslated during his asylum interview.

Sri Lankan police in Jaffna have been accused of torturing two Tamils in Jaffna this week, leaving them both with broken limbs. 

The two Tamil men were arrested by Kayts police and accused of theft. They allege that once taken to the police station, they both were beaten and tortured by police officers - to the point that they both had broken arms.

The European Union (EU) tweeted that the renewal of GSP plus trade preferences for Sri Lanka was not “automatic”, warning that it was related to the “effective implementation of 27 international conventions, related to human and labour rights, environment and good governance”.

The Sri Lankan military interrogated a Tamil youth in Jaffna on Saturday, after accusing him of leading a campaign which has seen growing calls for the removal of a military base from the local area.

Soldiers reportedly raided the house of the youth in Chulipuram on Friday evening, and told his family that he was to be summoned for questioning the next day.

Amnesty International has expressed concern about reports of attacks, harassment and intimidation of human rights organisations as well as media organisations and journalists in Sri Lanka in the period since the Easter Sunday bombings.

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the United Nations’ resident co-ordinator on the island that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead”, in a widely condemned declaration on Friday.

According to the official Sri Lankan president’s media division, Rajapaksa met with Hanaa Singer, where “he explained that these missing persons are actually dead”.

The statement will have caused widespread offence across the Tamil North-East, where families of the disappeared have been protesting on the roadside for over 1,000 days, demanding to know the fate of their loved ones.

The Indian government has pledged US $50 million for Colombo to purchase military equipment, despite the Sri Lankan security forces’ record of torture, sexual violence and mass atrocities.

The announcement came after India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Saturday met Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo.

Students and staff at the University of Jaffna came together to commemorate the 19th anniversary of the ‘Pongu Tamil’ uprising this week.

Several types of landmines were spotted in the Vattuvakal river bank near the Vattuvakal Bridge in Mullaitivu on Tuesday. 

Following the discovery, Mullaitivu police were informed and they arrived at the site to inspect and determine the types of landmines that were present.

Sri Lanka’s Office on Missing Persons (OMP) said “wide consultations with families of the missing and disappeared” needs to take place before any amendments are made to the Office on Missing Persons (Establishment, Administration and Discharge of Functions) Act No. 14 of 2016 (the Act).

The announcement comes after Sri Lankan government has announced it will “review” the Office of Missing Persons (OMP) Act, which was brought in by the previous regime as part of its commitments to a UN Human Rights Council resolution on accountability.

The Russian government will continue to provide arms and ammunition to the Sri Lankan military, despite widespread concerns over rights violations, announced Russian foreign minister Sergey Lavrov during a visit to Colombo last week.

A Buddhist religious flag was hoisted n front of Jaffna bus station in the centre of the city by a group of unknown persons on Monday evening, despite protests from the local Tamil community.