The re-emergence of Mahinda Rajapaksa has led to fears from rights activists of curbs on “free speech and human rights,” said The Economist in Thursday’s print edition.

Under the headline "Back to the bad old days", The Economist said that Rajapaksa “remains a hero to many among the island’s 70% Sinhala-speaking, Buddhist majority; his populist rule brought a ruinous quarter-century-long civil war to a brutal close”.

“Earlier this year his new political party won crushingly in local elections,” it added.

The European Union’s ambassador to Sri Lanka warned that Colombo may be stripped of trade concessions, following a week of political turmoil that saw Mahinda Rajapaksa, who led a military offensive that massacred tens of thousands of Tamils, appointed prime minister.

Speaking on the Generalised System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) trade concessions EU ambassador to Sri Lanka, Tung-Lai Margue, told Reuters,

“The government got GSP on the basis of certain commitments, if these commitments are not met, then we would consider withdrawal”.

In a second day of questioning on Sri Lanka at the US State Department’s Daily Press Briefing, a spokesperson said it was for the Sri Lankan “parliament to decide who the prime minister is”, as the political crisis in Colombo continued.

“The United States for now, we’re focused on the need for Sri Lanka to follow the necessary constitutional process to determine its leadership,” said Robert Palladino, deputy spokesperson for the state department on Wednesday.

A suspect in the assassination of former Sri Lankan foreign minister, Lakshman Kadirgamar was acquitted by the Colombo High Court on Thursday.

The suspect, Aarokiyanathan, was acquitted after being detained for thirteen years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).

Lakshman Kadirgamar was Minister of Foreign Affairs from 1994 to 2001 and from 2001 until he was killed in 2005.

Although the Sri Lankan government blamed the LTTE for the assassination, the LTTE repeatedly denied involvement in the killing.

An MP from the Sirisena-Rajapaksa camp has denied the possibility of Sri Lanka’s parliament reconvening on November 5 as reported earlier today.

UPFA MP Susil Premajayantha told a press briefing at Rajapaksa’s SLPP party office that parliament would only reconvene on November 16 as gazetted by President Sirisena.

Sirisena had initially suspended Parliament to shore up support for his move to replace Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe with former Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

See more on Daily Mirror.

Students at the University of Jaffna held a memorial service to mark ten years since the death of former student union leader Sellathurai Purusothaman, who was killed along with another Tamil youth during a clash with the Sri Lankan Army.

The head of security at Jaffna Teaching Hospital was summoned by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) this week, TamilWin reports.

Security official Rishanthan was issued the summons on Monday (October 29) to appear the following day (October 30).

At the time of the summons, Rishanthan said he did not have any idea as to the reason for his summons.

The US Ambassador to Sri Lanka met with Maithripala Sirisena earlier today, as she presented her credentials and took up her posting. 

Speaking at the event, Alaina Teplitz said that she was “honoured to serve as the U.S. Ambassador to Sri Lanka at this critical moment for the country and region”. 

The Elders, in a statement released today, said that President Sirisena’s action put the “fragile reconciliation process at jeopardy and called on Sirisena to stand on his “past commitments to deliver peace, justice and reconciliation to his people.”

The acting Chair of the Elders and former Prime Minister of Norway, Gro Harlem Brundtland said,

Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Sri Lankan authorities to respect journalists’ safety whilst condemning the take over of Sri Lanka’s press houses in a statement released this week.

See full statement here.

The International Federation of Journalists expressed also concern about the harassment of journalists and state media institutions following the appointment of Mahinda Rajapaksa as prime minister.