A former EPDP member has been sentenced to death for the rape and murder of a 12-year-old girl.

As well as the death sentence for murder, Kanthasamy Jegatheeswaran was also sentenced to twenty years rigorous imprisonment for rape and sexual torture, and ordered to pay 10 lakh rupees to the victim’s parents by Jaffna High Court judge M. Ilancheliyan.

Laksini Jesuthas, aged 12 at the time, was raped and murdered in Neduntheevu (Delft Island) on the 3rd of March, 2012.

Families of the disappeared have been protesting for 49 days in Kilinochchi.

Sri Lanka is currently negotiating a joint venture with India to redevelop the oil tank facility in Trincomalee. 

"We are currently negotiating the specifics of the joint venture," Sri Lanka's Petroleum Minister Chandima Weerakkody was quoted by The Hindu as saying. 

An agreement is hoped to be acheived before India's prime minister Narendra Modi's second visit to Sri Lanka in May. 

Malaysia's public prosecutor is filing an appeal seeking a more severe punishment for the activist, Lena Hendry for the screening of the documentary, No Fire Zone, reported Malaysiakini. 

In a court hearing last month, Ms Hendry was found guilty under Section 6(1)(b) of the Film Censorship Act and ordered to pay a RM 10,000 fine for organising the screening in 2013.  

The Sri Lankan prime minister Ranil Wickremesinghe this week reiterated that there were no plans to sell Hambantota port to China, it would only be leased. 

"There is no preliminary draft regarding handing over the Hambanthota Port to anyone," Mr Wickremesinghe was quoted by Colombo Page as saying to parliament on Wednesday. 

Families of the disappeared have been protesting in Maruthankerny, in Vadamaradchi East, for the twenty-fourth day.

A draft of Sri Lanka's Counter Terrorism Act was leaked on Thursday by unknown sources. 

See here for leaked copy.

The government has been under pressure to introduce a new bill to replace the Prevention of Terrorism Act in order bring its counter-terror legislation in line with international standards. 

British Tamil students discussed Tamil identity and the experience of growing up Tamil at a panel event hosted by student groups in London.

Sri Lanka's parliament was adjourned today after joint opposition MPs complained at not being allowed given sufficient time to speak during the UN resolution debate, the Daily Mirror reported. 

The paper reported that speaker Karu Jayasuriya adjourned the debate after what it described as a "tense situation". 

Mannar locals have been protesting against a gazette notification declaring private land including the area of Musali as nature reserve.

The Mayor of Toronto has said that only an independent mechanism with international can deliver justice to the Tamil people.

New UK home office policy advise on Sri Lanka is misleading and downplays ongoing human rights violations, Freedom from Torture has said.

The charity which provides rehabilitation and therapy for torture survivors in the UK has said it is deeply concerned by the new policy and has called for an urgent review.

Fishermen in Rameswaram, Tamil Nadu said they would picket Katchatheevu in protest on April 25 at Sri Lanka's impounding of their fishing boats, the Times of India reported. 

People for Equality and Relief in Lanka (PEARL) released its most recent report, "Impunity reigns in Sri Lanka: the Kumarapuram Massacre and Acquittals" during a side session during the Human Rights Council session in Geneva on March 20.