Families of the disappeared this week continued their protests across the North-East, demanding justice for their disappeared loved ones. 

<p>In an open letter, signed by over a hundred human rights organisations, the Harm Reducation International (HRI) has urged the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to apply pressure on Sri Lankan Government to abolish its death penalty.&nbsp;</p>

Mullaitivu fishermen have stepped up calls for the release of access roads to fishing waters from Sri Lankan navy and military occupation.

The district’s fishermen said that their livelihoods continue to suffer due to the forces continued occupation of two access roads in the Vadduvakal area, one which leads to the lagoon and another to deeper sea areas. The roads have been closed off to the public since 2009.

<p>Tamil Nadu’s High Court has ordered Chennai Commissioner of Police to permit Arappor Iyakkam, a non-profit charity, to hold protests in the city of Chennai and near Valluvarkottam June 30.</p> <p>This follows the initial rejection of Iyakkam’s application to protest by the commissioner of police on June 20. The police alleged that a separate protest was occurring on the same day and would cause undue to conflict and disturbance creating a law and order problem.</p>

A disappearances activist in Vavuniya was questioned by Sri Lanka’s terrorism division earlier this month.

The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, K Rajkumar was questioned by Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) officials at the site of the Vavuniya protest on June 20.

Initially attempting to question Rajkumar by telephone, the TID officials appeared at the protest after he had refused and asked for any requests for investigation to be made in writing.

Rajkumar said he had been questioned for over thirty minutes, including over disappearance activists going to the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva.

<p>A Muslim doctor who was falsely accused of sterilising thousands of Sinhalese women in the southern district of Kurunegala, is being detained illegally, a court heard on Friday.</p> <p>The doctor was subjected to a smear campaign by Sinhala newspaper Divaina, which was forced to admit after CID investigation that the allegations had come from one of the district’s top police chiefs.</p> <p>The CID said the doctor’s arrest and detention under emergency regulations did not conform to due process. He was arrested on a charge of having unexplained wealth, which the CID said was baseless.</p>

<p>More countries have condemned Sri Lanka’s move towards implementing the death penalty this week.</p> <p>After reports emerged that the Sri Lankan president had authorised the execution of four drug convicts, the European Union, Canada and France followed the UK in opposing the move.</p>

Tamil families of the disappeared have accused international organisations of working to derail their campaign for justice by trying to convince families to abandon their protests in favour of welfare payments and other buy offs.

Families in Mullaitivu have been campaigning for over two years for answers about their disappeared relatives, many of whom surrendered at the end of the war.

<p>Sri Lanka’s implementation of the death penalty will cause the UK to reconsider its engagement on security issues, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) said in a statement expressing concern.</p> <p>Reports emerged this week that Sri Lanka’s president had signed the execution warrants of four drug convicts. The reports have drawn international criticism from states and rights groups.</p>