Sri Lanka’s terrorism investigation division (TID) has summoned the chair of a Kilinochchi council for investigation.

Chair of Karaichi divisional council Velamalikithan Arunasalam was handed the summons letter telling him to appear before the TID in Kilinochchi on August 6.

Local reports highlighted that the council recently objected to the Sri Lankan army constructing a monument at Iranaimadu Junction, stating it posed a traffic hazard and would increase the possibility of accidents.

A Tamil Nadu fisherman has been injured following an attack by the Sri Lankan navy yesterday. The attack took place near Kodiyakarai when the navy opened fire at an unarmed group of fishermen. 

Kalaichelvan, a native of Nagapattinam, entered the sea on a mechanised boat along with ten other fishermen on July 28. They were fishing around five nautical miles away from the shores of Kodiyakarai when the patrolling Sri Lankan navy spotted them. 

Speaking at a media conference, US Ambassador to Sri Lanka, Alaina Teplitz, called on the Government of Sri Lanka to abide by its international commitments to human rights and take decisive steps to either repeal or amend its draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act.

The statement comes despite Tamil parliamentarians and human rights organisations calling for a full repeal of the measure. Speaking in parliament, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) politician M.A. Sumanthiran highlighted how the PTA enabled for the systemic use of torture and called for its full repeal.

The United States says that all Sri Lankan soldiers continue to be fully vetted for involvement in human rights abuses before being allowed to train in the country. Recent appointments however point to holes in the vetting process and raise questions from survivors.  

On Friday, four Tamil political prisoners, arrested under the heavily criticised Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), were released from Anuradhapura Jail after being acquitted by the Vavuniya High Court. 

The political prisoners released included: Nadesan Dharmarasa from Jaffna, Joseph Sebastian from Vavuniya, Nadarasa Sarveshwaran, from Kilinochchi and Jaffna University professor Kanesasundaram Kannadasan. 

Nadarasa Sarveshwaran was taken prisoner in 2016 under the draconian PTA. Two years later, in 2018, a case was filed against him in the Vavuniya High Court. He has now been acquitted and released after being deemed innocent by the court.

A Glasgow woman who was raped and assaulted by a hotel worker at a Sri Lankan hotel, Club Bentota Hotel, in 2010 has won a lawsuit against the tour operator, Kuoni. The judgement was handed down at the UK Supreme Court, 11 years after the lawsuit was filed. Kuoni was ordered to pay the compensation. 

The woman was attacked by the on-duty hotel employee who lured her into an engineering room after telling her he would show her the back of the reception area at the resort. 

Sri Lankan prisoners are to be enrolled in a new government scheme aimed at cultivating fertilisers following severe shortages caused by Sri Lanka's import ban on chemical fertilisers this year.

The Vavuniya High Court acquitted and released Jaffna University Fine Arts lecturer and former LTTE (Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam) member, Kanesasundaram Kannadasan, on Thursday, 30 July, over a year after his life sentence was overturned. 

People ‘s Council of Eelam Tamils (VETD) has urged the German government to immediately stop the deportation of a Tamil torture survivor and asylum-seeker, Sasi K.

Sasi K. moved to Germany in 2015 and was taken into an immigration detention in Büren last Friday. His deportation is set to take place on Tuesday 3 August at 4.50 p.m at Frankfurt airport.

The 14^th anniversary event of Sahathevan Nilakshan, a 22-year-old budding Tamil journalist who was shot and killed by suspected Sri Lankan military intelligence personnel on 1 August 2007, took place at Jaffna Press Club on Sunday.

Wreaths were laid and candles were lit in front of Nilakshan’s photo during the commemorative event.