The Presidential Commission of Inquiry (PCOI) revealed that former Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena received several a call from State Intelligence Service Director Nilantha Jayawardena warning him that an attack was imminent, just minutes before bombs ripped through churches and hotels on the island, killing hundreds.

The PCOI revealed that Sirisena received a 63-second call in which Jayawardena had contacted Sirisena’s security official just 43 minutes before the attacks of 21 April 2019.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) and EQUAL GROUND has called on Sri Lankan authorities to end forced anal and vaginal examinations in trials against homosexuality.

The Sri Lankan government has responded to a landmark judgement from Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission, which found that the decision to keep the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) proscribed as a terrorist organisation was “flawed” and unlawful, by stating it will “continue to closely monitor the progress of the case”.

A statement from Sri Lanka’s foreign ministry in Colombo this morning, said that though the government “could not make direct representations”, it had “assisted the Government of the United Kingdom by providing relevant information with regard to continued terrorist activities”.

Sri Lanka’s famed cricketer Muttiah Muralitharan has always been a controversial figure. With tens of thousands around the globe airing their discontent over a Kollywood biopic to be made on the athlete, he has once more been pushed into the spotlight and sparked larger conversations over his legacy, Sri Lankan identity, and how sports and politics on the island are intrinsically entwined.

As an athlete, Muralitharan broke several records. His unusual bowling action, which brought him fans as well as detractors, made him an international sensation. He toured the world, shrugging off the ‘chucker’ chants and abuse, to become the most successful bowler in test history. Despite his impressive record, he was never appointed captain of the national team - a fact simply accepted by many as simply part of the immovable everyday racism that all Tamils in Sri Lanka have to endure. Regardless, the fact that he was a Malayaga Tamil on a Sri Lankan team dominated by Sinhalese, won him fans. And though there was a small sense of pride that Muralitharan was the Sri Lankan cricket team’s lead wicket-taker, for many Eelam Tamils his rise to fame was coupled with a deep discomfort.

A landmark judgement from Britain’s Proscribed Organisations Appeal Commission found that the Home Office decision to keep the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) proscribed as a terrorist organisation was “flawed” and unlawful, and paves the way for the organisation to possibly being legalised in the United Kingdom.

This is only the second time in the Commission’s history that such an appeal has been heard in the past twenty years.

The families of the disappeared in the North-East have urged Vijay Sethupathi to not play the biopic of Muttiah Muralitharan as he is “someone who lacks compassion and does not have empathy” whilst also stressing that he “belittled the protests by the mothers of the disappeared.”

The 8 district representatives of the Association of Families of the Disappeared in the North-East met the media in Jaffna on Monday, where they voiced their request.

Former Sri Lankan minister Rishad Bathiudeen was arrested by the Criminal Investigations Department during a raid on Dehiwela on Monday morning, with 7 others for reportedly assisting the politician evade arrest. 

Two of the 7 alleged accomplices are females, including one female doctor, and all will be charged with harbouring a suspect and produced in court, stated Sri Lanka Police spokesperson DIG Ajith Rohana. At least 6 police teams were involved in the operation, he added.

The bail application of two men that attacked Tamil journalists from the Mullaitivu District last week was rejected by the Mullaitivu Magistrate Court Judge on Friday. 

Kanapathipillai Kumanan and Shanmugan Thavaseelan, two Tamil Guardian correspondents who went to collect information regarding illegal logging and timber smuggling in the Murippu forest reserve in Mullaitivu, were beaten with metal rods and injured on 12^th October 2020. 

<p><img alt src="/sites/default/files/Image/pictures/2020/SL%20Government/sirisena.jpg"></p> <p>Sri Lanka’s former president claimed that a senior police official who fled the island to seek asylum in Switzerland, had conducted his investigations to please certain “NGOs affiliated to the LTTE”.</p> <p>Former president Maithripala Sirisena made the claim about former CID inspector Nishantha Silva while testifying before the President Commission of Inquiry (PCoI) investigating the Easter Sunday attacks.&nbsp;</p>