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At least three Tamil political prisoners have launched a hunger strike inside of Jaffna prison today, as their families joined them in protest outside the Northern Province Governor's office, demanding they all be released from Sri Lankan detention.
Rathnasingam Kamalakaran, Vaithiyalingam Nirmalan and Pathmanathan Ingaran are the three prisoners who began their hunger strike inside the prison this morning. They were detained by Sri Lanka’s Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) under the draconian and much-criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) on 3 July 2020, 6 July 2020 and on 28 May 2021.
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Sri Lankan police claimed that they had been attempting to commemorate Black Tigers’ Day, as well as aiding and abetting the production of explosives.
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Hundreds of Tamil political prisoners remain in Sri Lankan custody, but exact figures remain unknown. Last week, Tamil National Alliance lawmaker M A Sumanthiran told Sri Lanka’s parliament that there were 300 to 400 people detained under the PTA.
Though there have been growing calls for decades for the law to be abolished, Sri Lanka has refused, instead proposing reforms that continue to come under criticism for its draconian measures.