• President Sirisena rejects appeal by UN chief over death penalty

    Jul 02
    <p>Sri Lankan President, Maithripala Sirisena, said he rejected an appeal by United Nations Secretary-General, Antonio Guterres, to reconsider his restoration of the death penalty after 43 years.</p> <p>“I told the Secretary-General that I want to save my country from drugs,” Sirisena said in a meeting in Colombo.</p>
  • Attacks on religious minorities continued says US State Department
    <p>Religious minorities in Sri Lanka continue to be attacked, said the US Department in its 2018 report on International Religious Freedom.</p>
  • Vulnerable Tamil women worse-off under emergency regulations
    <p>Vulnerable Tamil women have become worse-off under Sri Lanka’s emergency regulations, campaigners have said.</p> <p>Speaking at a conference on International Widows Day in Batticaloa, campaigners for female-headed households and families of disappeared said that surveillance and harassment by intelligence personnel have worsened since the Easter Sunday attacks.</p>
  • Disappeared Tamils' case adjourned due to Gotabhaya absence
    <p>The trial around the disappearance of two Tamil men has been adjourned after Sri Lanka’s former defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapaksa failed to attend court to give testimony.</p>
  • Sri Lanka Defence Ministry to strengthen intelligence

    Sri Lanka's Ministry of Defence is to strengthen its intelligence apparatus in a restructuring move that will give its leadership more "authoritative status" to tackle 'security threats' including "separatism".

  • Northern governor admits military damaging environment in Mullaitivu

    The governor of the Northern province admitted that the Sri Lankan military was causing environmental damage by exploiting Mullaitivu ground water.

    The remarks came at a meeting of the district development committee last week when Governor Suren Raghavan was told about the Sri Lankan army extracting millions of litres of water daily from a tube well in Karaithuraipatru (Maritimepattu).

  • Families of disappeared continue protests across North-East

    Families of the disappeared this week continued their protests across the North-East, demanding justice for their disappeared loved ones. 

  • Over a hundred human rights organisations call on Sri Lanka to end its death penalty for drug offences
    <p>In an open letter, signed by over a hundred human rights organisations, the Harm Reducation International (HRI) has urged the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crimes (UNODC) and International Narcotics Control Board (INCB) to apply pressure on Sri Lankan Government to abolish its death penalty.&nbsp;</p>
  • Mullaitivu fishermen call for release of access roads from military occupation

    Mullaitivu fishermen have stepped up calls for the release of access roads to fishing waters from Sri Lankan navy and military occupation.

  • Tamil Nadu High Court permits water protests
    <p>Tamil Nadu’s High Court has ordered Chennai Commissioner of Police to permit Arappor Iyakkam, a non-profit charity, to hold protests in the city of Chennai and near Valluvarkottam June 30.</p> <p>This follows the initial rejection of Iyakkam’s application to protest by the commissioner of police on June 20. The police alleged that a separate protest was occurring on the same day and would cause undue to conflict and disturbance creating a law and order problem.</p>
  • Vavuniya disappearances activist questioned by TID

    A disappearances activist in Vavuniya was questioned by Sri Lanka’s terrorism division earlier this month.

    The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, K Rajkumar was questioned by Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) officials at the site of the Vavuniya protest on June 20.

  • Muslim doctor subject to Sinhala newspaper smear campaign detained illegally
    <p>A Muslim doctor who was falsely accused of sterilising thousands of Sinhalese women in the southern district of Kurunegala, is being detained illegally, a court heard on Friday.</p> <p>The doctor was subjected to a smear campaign by Sinhala newspaper Divaina, which was forced to admit after CID investigation that the allegations had come from one of the district’s top police chiefs.</p>
  • More countries oppose Sri Lanka execution moves
    <p>More countries have condemned Sri Lanka’s move towards implementing the death penalty this week.</p> <p>After reports emerged that the Sri Lankan president had authorised the execution of four drug convicts, the European Union, Canada and France followed the UK in opposing the move.</p>
  • Families of disappeared accuse international orgs of derailing campaign

    Tamil families of the disappeared have accused international organisations of working to derail their campaign for justice by trying to convince families to abandon their protests in favour of welfare payments and other buy offs.

  • 10 new charges of torture made against Gotabaya

    Gotabaya Rajapaksa faces ten new charges of overseeing torture and sexual violence during his period as defence secretary.

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