Writing in the Red Flag, Ben Hillier, highlights the plight of the Biloela Tamil refugee family who have been detained for over three years in Australia as well thousand of Tamil refugees who face the threat of deportation and torture in Sri Lanka.

Government complicity

_{^{File photograph: YouTuber 'Sattai' Duraimurugan}}

Tamil Nadu’s Trichy police department arrested four Tamils for challenging a video posted earlier this month on social media, that showed former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader, Velupillai Prabhakaran in a derogatory manner.

The detained individuals include journalist and Youtuber ‘Sattai’ Duraimurugan, Naam Tamil Katchi (NTK) member Vinoth, political campaigner Saravanan and another man named Santhosh.  

During parliamentary questions, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, Edward Davey, and Shadow Minister for Asia and the Pacific, Stephen Kinnock, questioned Britain’s assessment of human rights in Sri Lanka and its continued military support.

A call for sanctions

^{Photograph: Tamil protestors in Colombo, 1956, shortly before they were attacked by Sinhala mobs. (Courtesy Victor Ivan)}

This week marks 65 years since Sri Lanka’s first anti-Tamil pogroms, when government backed Sinhala mobs murdered more than 150 Tamils across the island – the first of many massacres that were to take place in the decades to come.

The EU parliament has passed a new resolution on Sri Lanka expressing “serious concern at the rapid deterioration of human rights” on the island and urging the Council to consider targeted sanctions against senior Sri Lanka officials accused of war crimes.

The resolution also calls on the Council to investigate and prosecute war crime abuses; to suspend funding for the training of Sri Lanka’s security forces; and to suspend the favourable trading preferences granted by the GSP+ agreement.

Former Northern Provincial Council member Durairasa Ravikaran called for Sri Lankan state forces to take accountability and impose sanctions on those who are repeatedly violating COVID-19 protocols by travelling from the South to the North-East.

In a scathing report, Amnesty International slams Sri Lanka’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic highlighting the gag order on the health care sector; the prioritisation of those with economic or political privilege at the expense of at-risk groups; the abuse of factory workers and prisoners; as well as the lack of a comprehensive plan to vaccinate the whole population.

Sri Lankan police officers have arrested individuals across Jaffna for allegedly “violating the travel ban” and interrogated for their purpose of travel.

The operation, which was led by the Jaffna Police Headquarters, was carried out in the town of Jaffna and neighbouring areas today.

A small Hindu temple on a street in Jaffna, near the A9 highway linking Jaffna and Kandy, was found destroyed on Tuesday morning.

The Pillaiyar statue was damaged and the temple, located between Kodikamam and Mirusuvil, was completely broken down on Monday night by unknown culprits and discovered by the nearby residents on the following morning.

Sri Lankan police have arrested ten people, including the provincial council’s deputy chairman for Puthukkudiyiruppu, Mullaitivu, following protests against the reopening of a garment factory amidst fears of the COVID-19 pandemic spreading.