Amid strong calls for reconciliation and rehabilitation in the North, the Sri Lankan government, who are currently accused of war crimes and human rights abuses, are looking to raise $5 billion dollars, to invest into Hambantota, President Rajapaksa’s home constituency, and in the southern capital city, Colombo. See here . A recent report on a $5 billion investment raising initiative exhibited Sri Lanka’s continuous investment drive to help develop its southern ports facilities. Speaking about plans for Colombo and Hambontota, in a recent interview with a UK newspaper, Sri Lanka Ports...
Writing in The Guardian , Donna Covey, the chief executive of a leading UK charity for refugees and asylum seekers, Refugee Council, condemned the UK's policy of deportation to Sri Lanka, following the recently published testimony of the tortured Tamil deportee, 'Hari'. 'Evidence that shows it is unsafe to return people to Sri Lanka grows by the day . Just last week, the UK's high court stopped the removal of 40 refused asylum seekers to Sri Lanka on the grounds that their human rights would be violated . Human Rights Watch have this year alone reported 13 cases of refused asylum seekers who...
As an estimated 8000 protestors gathered outside Marlborough House to demonstrate against Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, it was reported that inside, British Prime Minister David Cameron also discussed the issue of war crimes with Rajapaksa. The Prime Minister’s spokesman Craig Oliver told Channel 4 that, “The Prime Minister raised the issue of making sure that allegations of war crimes in Sri Lanka were properly investigated”. Earlier, reports from “senior sources” to The Times indicated that the British Prime Minister would also warn Rajapaksa of potential boycott of the 2013 CHOGM...
Video footage has been released that appears to show Sri Lankan soldiers “gloating” over more than a hundred Tamil corpses, many of which have been stripped naked, reported The Independent . The video clips, recorded by Sri Lankan soldiers, shows more than 100 dead bodies of Tamils, with many of the dead dressed in civilian clothing. Almost all of the dead women in the video have had their clothes stripped off to expose their breasts and genitals. A second clip appears to show injured Tamils lying on the ground surrounded by Sri Lankan soldiers before cutting to a clip of lines of Tamil women...
In an article published in the Guardian on Tuesday, a failed Tamil asylum seeker, 'Hari', recounted his harrowing experience of being tortured in the infamous '4th floor' of Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, accused of 'undermining diplomatic relations by complaining to the UK government' of previous abuses. See here for full article in The Guardian. Extract reproduced below: '... In what he described as a "torture hall" on the fourth floor of the criminal investigation department building in Colombo , Hari, who had already served time for being an intelligence agent for the...
The body of male, found mutilated by Bambalapiti Hindu College on Friday morning , is that of Kanapathipillai Udayakanthan, reported The Sunday Times. Udayakanthan, from Batticaloa, is said to be the former bodyguard of the LTTE political wing leader. According to reports, he returned to Sri Lanka two years ago, after spending several years in the UK.
Published 12:50 BST Thousands of Tamil protesters are marching through London to Marlborough house protesting against Rajapaksa's UK visit. There remains a heavy police presence with more police arriving, as rajapaksas arrival is expected. Follow us on Twitter @tamilguardian for live updates and coverage.
Published 22:40 BST Photographs added 07 Jun 2012 02:01 BST Thousands of Tamils marched through the streets of London on Wednesday protesting against Rajapaksa's UK visit to have a Diamond Jubilee lunch with the Queen, before egging his car as he made his way to the airport. Protesters throw eggs at Rajapaksa's car as he leaves for the airport. At 8am this morning, buoyed but undeterred by the cancellation of Rajapaksa's key note speech at the Commonwealth Economic Forum, hundreds of protesters began to gather outside Mansion House, before marching on to Marlborough House where Rajapaksa was due to have lunch with the Queen. As the march progressed, hundreds rapidly swelled into thousands as scores of Tamils arrived with placards, banners and Eelam flags. By mid-morning the march had reached an estimated 8000 protesters, as they congregated around Marlborough House. Hundreds of Tamils from France, Germany and other European countries joined the protest with their country's flags flying outside. Furious at the invitation extended to him, protesters dragged an effigy of Rajapaksa through the streets and burnt the Sri Lankan constitution.
Speaking to Channel 4 News on the mass protests against Rajapaksa in the UK on Wednesday, the chairman of the Royal Commonwealth Society, Peter Kellner, said the meeting with Rajapaksa had been an embarrassment to the Queen, however it was due to a "mistake" made at the last Commonwealth summit, when "they took no action against the mounting evidence" of human rights violations in Sri Lanka. See here for full interview with Channel 4 News. Transcript of interview follows: Q. I asked whether, in his view, the President of Sri Lanka should have been here today. A. No I don't think he should, it wasn’t a mistake that the Queen or Buckingham Palace made, Sri Lanka is a member of the Commonwealth. The mistake was made by the Commonwealth at their last summit, last year in Perth in Australia, when they took no action against the mounting evidence that you amongst others have provided, of things going wrong and human rights being violated in Sri Lanka . Q. But if they won’t suspend him, then he’s a legitimate leader of a Commonwealth country and has every right to be here and to be heard. A. Here’s the problem, it’s not just any old Commonwealth country, they are, Sri Lanka is hosting the next Commonwealth summit , which the Queen shall attend towards the end of next year, What worries me is that if nothing is done to improve the human rights situation in Sri Lanka, that summit is going to be a disaster .
Sri Lanka deported Channel 4 director, Stuart Cosgrove, and his wife of Tamil descent, Shirani Sabaratnam, on Sunday. Both have now been placed on a " blacklist " and barred from entering the country by the Department of Immigration and Emigration. National Criminal Investigation unit arrested both individuals and deported them. Accoring to Virakesari, Shirani Sabaratnam stayed seven hours in the country before she was refused a visa and turned back at the airport. Meanwhile the BBC reports the Sri Lankan official in charge of immigration told Charles Haviland of the BBC that Cosgrove's...