Detailing three years of torture by the Sri Lankan state, one man, referred to as Thevan, describes his horrific ordeal to Amnesty International. Thevan, who worked near Vavuniya in the North-East, was abducted in 2008, and held without charge as an LTTE suspect, during which time he was repeatedly tortured. He was finally released in 2011 following a bribe paid by his family. Thevan said, “The only reason I’m out of prison is because my family paid. I was kept detained to get money from my family. There was never an official charge. No attempt was ever made to investigate the abuses I suffered. We don’t feel we’ll get justice out of the system ,” Thevan's account to Amnesty International: “I was blindfolded and with my hands tied behind my back . Sometimes our heads were banged against the wall or we would be kicked on our chests . Many times I was half conscious or would lose consciousness . When I would come back I would find people hitting me . They used to say: ‘ You must accept that you are part of the Tamil Tigers and you must sign these papers’ ”. “For three days we didn't know what had happened to us, they just beat us . No questions were asked, only beatings and torture. We were kept in the same place but in different rooms. I could sometimes hear my friend crying as he was being beaten up and he could hear me,” “They were trying to push me to sign by holding a pen in my hand and putting the paper in front of me, but I refused to do that, and after that the beatings started increasing . Once they hit my head so hard the blood was pouring down my side and there was a crack in my skull . You can still see the scars now, ”

An NGO in Sri Lanka is under investigation after it invited activists from southern India for projects in the island’s northeast. According to The Island the NGO, called Viluthu, invited several activists, including Sharifa Khanam and Ester Devakumari, who were arrested for engaging in NGO projects while on tourist visas. "Devakumari arrived here on June 19. She conducted a workshop for a group of northern widows at the Nedunkerni Divisional Secretariat on June 23. Having arrested her at the Omanthai police checkpoint, Devakumari was brought to Colombo and deported the following day. She was...

Two Provincial Councils in the Sinhala south, Sabaragamuwa and Southern, have passed resolutions supporting the government’s move to change the 13th Amendment to the Sri Lankan constitution. The government planned to repeal provisions that would enable “Parliament to legislate on subjects allocated to the provincial councils” and to prevent “the scope for merger of two or more provincial councils”, reported the Daily Mirror . The Central Provincial Council and the Northwestern Provincial Council will also debate the issue this week.

The Mannar Citizens Committee has accused the Sri Lankan army of obstructing an awareness initiative by on laws relating to land, which the MCC created in view of the arbitrary occupation of land by the army. In a statement published on the 11th June 2013, the MCC Said that it " strongly feel[s] this needs to be inquired into, and those [who are] responsible at all levels held accountable. If not, such unlawful intrusions by the military into activities of the government officials, as well as civil society, will continue. " The MCC outlined the allegations as follows: "On the first day, 30th May 2013, an intelligence officer of the Army had come to seminar, but the President of the MCC had told him that this was a program dealing with purely civil matters and that his presence was disturbing. He had left without saying any word.