Features

Features

Sri Lankan military blocks access to temple, harasses journalists on Thai Pongal

Jan 14, 2016

Sri Lanka soldiers prevented Tamils from accessing a temple where a special pooja was being held to celebrate Thai Pongal earlier today, whilst Tamil journalists attempting to cover the event were harassed and faced extensive security checks.

A special pooja was being held for Thai Pongal at the Rajarajeswari Amman Temple inside the Palali High Security Zone, with Sri Lankan Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, government minister Vijayakala Maheswaran and Tamil National Alliance MP Maavai Senathirajah in attendance.

Systemic torture and rape oppressing Tamils under new Sri Lanka government

Jan 4, 2016

New evidence has emerged of on-going torture and sexual violence by Sri Lanka’s security forces one year after the new government promised to end such violations.

See full 45 page report here: SILENCED: SURVIVORS OF TORTURE AND SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN 2015

10th anniversary of 'Trinco 5' killings, still no justice

Jan 1, 2016

Photograph Tamilnet

Today marks the 10 years since the murder of five Tamil students, committed by Sri Lanka's Special Task Force, whilst they spent an afternoon on the beach in Trincomalee.

A memorial service was held in Trinco to remember the students that were killed by Sri Lanka's special forces.

Speaking at the event, the Trinco-based rights activist Jathindra called on the people to be proactive in their struggle for justice. Such memorial events should not only be for remembrance but also to unify Tamils in their actions, he said.

2015 in photographs

Dec 30, 2015

We look back at 2015 with some of the year's most significant events in images.

Remembering the tsunami

Dec 25, 2015

On December 26th, 2004, over 35,000 people perished during the catastrophic tsunami that hit the coasts of the North-East and South of the island of Sri Lanka.

The United Nation High Commission for Refugees (UNHCR) said five days after the disaster that almost two thirds of those killed were in the Tamil homeland of the North-East.

No justice 10 years on from Pararajasingham Xmas assasination in Sri Lanka

Dec 24, 2015

Today marks the 10th death anniversary of the late Tamil politician Joseph Pararajasingham, who was shot dead on Christmas Eve by armed government paramilitary men in 2005.

To this day no one has been held accountable for his death.

Maaveerar Naal 2015

Nov 26, 2015

Eelam Tamils across the world mark Tamil National Remembrance Day 2015. Photograph - Maaveerar Naal remembered over the site of the demolished LTTE cemetery in PTK. UPDATED 28 Nov 2015 10:15 GMT

Have we not lost enough lives for our rights?' - Jaffna Uni protests in tribute to student who committed suicide

Nov 25, 2015

Students at the University of Jaffna held a demonstration calling the Sri Lankan government to account, after a school student committed suicide over the ongoing Tamil political prisoners crisis.

@uthayashalin

Demonstrators called for justice for the death of 18-year-old Rajeswaran Senthuran, who took his own life in protest at the Sri Lankan government's failure to release Tamil political prisoners.

Rajeswaran Senthuran, a student at Kokkuvil Hindu College jumped in front of a train at Kondavil railway station near Jaffna.

US Ambassador Samantha Power visits Jaffna

Nov 21, 2015

US Ambassador Samantha Power with Chief Minister of the Nothern Province C. V. Wigneswaran in Jaffna earlier today. (Photograph Tamil Guardian) UPDATED 18OO GMT

UN confirms existence of secret torture camps in Sri Lanka, calls on gov to reveal other possible locations

Nov 17, 2015

The United Nations Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (UN WGEID) announced that it had discovered a “secret underground detention cum torture center” located in Sri Lanka and called on the government to reveal the existence of other such centers if any existed.

Speaking at a press conference concluding the UN team’s visit to Sri Lanka, Ariel Dulitzky, said that the center most probably would have been used from 2010 according to dates scribbled in blood on the walls.

"We saw the dates that some people wrote on the walls. Clearly some of the latest dates were from 2010. We believe that it is an important discovery that should be investigated. Our understanding is that people were held there for very long periods of time," said the UN official.

The UN investigator added that there was a high probability of other torture sites existing on the island.

Mr Dulitzky stressed that the impunity in which disappearances had taken place in Sri Lanka had caused deep wounds in affected communities in Sri lanka.

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