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'Keenie Meenie: The British Mercenaries Who Got Away with War Crimes', a new book which has just been released, uncovers how a British mercenary company formed by ex-Special Air Service (SAS) veterans carried out highly controversial secret operations across the world, including in Sri Lanka.

Keenie Meenie Services (KMS), a private and one of Britain’s first mercenary companies, was established in the 1970’s and recruited military veterans equipped with combat experience from various conflict situations.

The book – written by reporter for investigative journalism organisation Declassified UK and author Phil Miller - claims its powerful backing meant successive British governments failed to restrain it from operating.

The house of a Tamil local news journalist has been attacked and vandalised by a group of unidentified men in Mannipay, Jaffna.

The Sri Lankan government is planning to pass laws granting immunity to members of its intelligence services who have been accused of grave human rights violations, Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS) reports.

A court in Germany has convicted a Tamil man of being involved in the 2005 assassination of Sri Lanka's foreign minister Lakshman Kadirgamar, despite claims that his words had been mistranslated during his asylum interview.

The man, identified only as Navanithan G, has been in Germany since 2012 but only arrested over the assassination last year. Authorities claim that during his asylum interview, he admitted to being a member of the LTTE intelligence unit and to providing information on Kadirgamar’s whereabouts to the LTTE. Navanithan, however, told the court that his words were mistranslated. 

Sri Lankan police in Jaffna have been accused of torturing two Tamils in Jaffna this week, leaving them both with broken limbs. 

The two Tamil men were arrested by Kayts police and accused of theft. They allege that once taken to the police station, they both were beaten and tortured by police officers - to the point that they both had broken arms.

The official in charge of the crime division at the station was singled out as being responsible for the torture that they endured. Local Tamil civil society organisations said they have repeatedly complained about the officer in question, who has been allegedly to repeatedly been involved in unlawful activities.

The European Union (EU) tweeted that the renewal of GSP plus trade preferences for Sri Lanka was not “automatic”, warning that it was related to the “effective implementation of 27 international conventions, related to human and labour rights, environment and good governance”.

The Sri Lankan military interrogated a Tamil youth in Jaffna on Saturday, after accusing him of leading a campaign which has seen growing calls for the removal of a military base from the local area.

Soldiers reportedly raided the house of the youth in Chulipuram on Friday evening, and told his family that he was to be summoned for questioning the next day.

Though others tried to accompany him to the army camp on Saturday, soldiers only allowed the youth to enter. During his interrogation, he was reportedly asked to sign a letter stating that he did not want the military to leave the area.

Amnesty International has expressed concern about reports of attacks, harassment and intimidation of human rights organisations as well as media organisations and journalists in Sri Lanka in the period since the Easter Sunday bombings.

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa told the United Nations’ resident co-ordinator on the island that the thousands of forcibly disappeared and missing Tamils “are actually dead”, in a widely condemned declaration on Friday.

According to the official Sri Lankan president’s media division, Rajapaksa met with Hanaa Singer, where “he explained that these missing persons are actually dead”.

The statement will have caused widespread offence across the Tamil North-East, where families of the disappeared have been protesting on the roadside for over 1,000 days, demanding to know the fate of their loved ones.

The Indian government has pledged US $50 million for Colombo to purchase military equipment, despite the Sri Lankan security forces’ record of torture, sexual violence and mass atrocities.

The announcement came after India’s National Security Adviser Ajit Doval on Saturday met Sri Lankan President Gotabaya Rajapaksa in Colombo.