A Tamil youth was arrested in Kopay, Jaffna earlier this month for having a photo of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) leader Velupillai Prabhakaran on his smartphone. 

Kopay police filed a B report against the youth on charges of "inciting or attempting to incite hatred" under Section 120 of the Sri Lankan Penal Code.  The Jaffna Magistrate Court conducted a case hearing the following day where the arrested youth was produced before the court. 

The youth was  reportedly arrested after the police were alerted about the alleged photograph on his phone. 

^{MP Rishad Bathiudeen}

Former Sri Lankan minister and leader of the All Ceylon Makkal Congress (ACMC) Rishad Bathiudeen MP and his brother Riyaz Bathiudeen were arrested by the Criminal Investigation Department early this morning, in connection to the Easter Sunday attacks in 2019.

Sri Lanka’s government, Mass Media Minister, Keheliya Rambukwella has denied that the government’s decision to proscribe 11 Islamic organisations was intended to ban any religious or political organisation. Instead, he claims it was due to concerns over “national security and inter-communal harmony”.

Addressing a meeting held by the Sri Lanka-Japan Parliamentary Friendship Association, Japan’s ambassador to Sri Lanka, Sugiyama Akira, expressed Japan's interest to broaden the scope of our bilateral relations over the coming years despite concerns over Sri Lanka’s human rights record.

The replacement Mullivaikkal memorial was unveiled this morning at the University of Jaffna, after it was destroyed by Sri Lankan authorities earlier this year. 

A memorial monument has been constructed in memory of the 31 people who perished in an attack on Zion Church in Batticaloa on Easter Sunday two years ago. 

The Australian government has supplied five aerial drones to the Sri Lankan police, despite international scrutiny at the United Nations Human Rights Council for its domestic “assault on justice.”

Sri Lanka’s Fishery Minister, and leader of the pro-government paramilitary Eelam People's Democratic Party (EPDP), Douglas Devananda has maintained that the only solution to fishery disputes will be the continued detention of Indian fishermen.

^{A woman pays tribute at a church in Jaffna this morning.}

Today marks two years since a series of bomb attacks targeting churches and luxury hotels on Easter Sunday, killing 279 people and injured more than 500 others.

The attacks, staged by eight bombers who all killed themselves in the attack, saw eight blasts reported in total, attacking luxury hotels and churches in Colombo and Batticaloa. 

Hotels hit by explosions include the Shangri-La, Kingsbury and Cinnamon Grand hotels and one other, all in Colombo. The three churches struck were the Catholic Shrine of St. Anthony in Kotahena, Colombo, the Catholic Church of St. Sebastian in Negombo and the Zion Church in Batticaloa. At least 45 foreign nationals were amongst the dead.

Though the Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, with the lesser-known jihadist group National Thowheed Jamaath (NTJ) involved, it soon emerged that Sri Lankan intelligence services were aware that an attack was due to take place on Easter Sunday.

The aftermath of the attack saw reports of senior Sri Lankan figures being complicit with the previously little known NTJ, mob violence against Muslims and a ramping up of militarisation and securitisation across the island that persists to this day.

Remembrance services were held across the North-East today to mark two years since the Easter Sunday attacks that killed 279 people and injured over 500 others.