Ahead of his headline London show, the comedian sat with the Tamil Guardian in London, wearing his “Seeni Appa" (Sugar Daddy) T-shirt, to speak about his Tamil identity and how it has been integral to his comedy and to his audience.
Argentina called on Sri Lanka to arrest Iranian minister Ahmad Vahidi, who was touted to visit the island alongside Iranian President Ebrahim Raisi this week, accusing him of orchestrating a 1994 attack on a Jewish community centre in Buenos Aires that killed 85 people. The request from the Argentinian government comes less than two weeks after a court in the country held Iran responsible for the attack and demanded Sri Lanka, as well as Pakistan, which the Iranians visited before arriving in Colombo on Wednesday, arrest Vahidi. Interpol issued a ‘red notice’ requesting police agencies...
As part of their global annual report, Amnesty International slammed the Sri Lankan government’s human rights record noting that “impunity remained entrenched with the Sri Lankan government making no notable progress around the right to truth, justice and reparation for those affected by war”.
Nishan Duraiappah, the Chief of Peel Regional Police, was aware of a Supreme Court ruling that found Sri Lanka’s police chief had personally participated in torture, and still decided to meet him in Colombo, according to a report in Global News.
The Sri Lankan government reportedly summoned the Canadian High Commissioner in Colombo over plans to construct a monument to victims of the Tamil genocide, thousands of miles away in the Canadian city of Brampton.
Nagalingam Ethirveerasingam, the Jaffna-born activist and athlete, who competed in the 1952 Olympics and won the first Gold Medal in any sport for Ceylon passed away on Thursday, 18 April 2024, aged 89 years old.
Tamil residents and members of the Tamil National People's Front (TNPF) held another protest to demand the removal of a Sinhala Buddhist shrine, the Tissa Rahamaha Vihara, which was built illegally and on land occupied by Sri Lanka's military. Tamils in Thaiyiddy, Jaffna, have been protesting every Poya (full moon) day for nearly a year, to demand the removal of the illegal structure. 12 acres of land surrounding the shrine are owned by 14 farming families but are currently occupied. Protesters had camped outside of the Buddhist shrine last night ahead of today's Poya worship and vowed to...
Releasing its country report on Human Rights Practices in Sri Lanka, the US State Department said that 2023 was marred with a slew of “significant human rights issues” including torture, degrading treatment by the government, unjustified arrests, and extrajudicial killings. Documented by the Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and Labour, the full report available on the US State Department website finds the “government took minimal steps to identify and punish officials who may have committed human rights abuses,” which includes “crimes involving violence targeting Hindus, Muslims, Christians...
Three Eelam Tamils, including a boy, have fled to Tamil Nadu, undertaking a treacherous journey by boat from Batticaloa over the rising cost of living and ongoing economic crisis in Sri Lanka. The two men and child were found seeking shelter from the sun at the sandbanks near Dhanushkodi when they were spotted by patrol boats and taken inland. The authorities have handed the family to the police who will begin investigations. The trio had told authorities that they were undergoing economic hardships due to the rising cost of living, lack of livelihood and dwindling incomes. Due to the...
A Sri Lankan oversight committee on ‘national security’ has issued a directive to seize land for a Buddhist shrine in Jaffna, which local Tamil residents have opposed.