Sri Lanka: Disgusting! Suspect wants water – Police Sgt. urinates in his mouth

 RUWAN LAKNATH JAYAKODY AND SAMAN WADUGE

On 8 May 2014, Sanjeewa having received a call from his mother on 4 May left his home at 164, Heenagara, Medagama, Panirendawa, with the intention of visiting his father who had been brought home after a stint in hospital. He arrived in Ampara (two kilometres from Priyangala, to Rajiwelathenna) at 6.30 p.m. Then Sunil, the owner of the cycle repair shop at which Sanjeewa works, called him at around 7.30 p.m. and inquired whether eight university friends of his could stay at Sanjeewa's parents house in Ampara for a couple of days from 8 May onwards, to which he agreed and gave him the address when asked.

Sri Lanka: Sexual predators run riot in schools

Parents reluctant to complain due to social stigma, intimidation

Last week, a Kegalle district primary school principal was arrested for sexually abusing eight schoolgirls. The father to two children, 52-year-old Swamivelu Sukumar is accused of showing pornography and then on several occasions sexually abusing the victims aged between 11 to 13 years.

The principal was apprehended after a child who had dropped out of school confided to government officials that the reason she was no longer attending school was because the principal was ‘hurting’ her.

Sri Lanka Govt appoints international experts to investigate war deaths

''I am of the opinion that it is expendient that the said Commission of Inquiry should have the benefit of the advice of distinguished international experts, whose internationally recognized expertise and experience encompasses legal and other relevant dimensions of the matters set out above. I hereby appoint the following to serve on an Advisory Council to the Commission of Inquiry to which I may appoint other experts as may be required from time to time, to advise the Chairman and Members of the Commission of Inquiry, at their request, on matters pertaining to the work of the Commission''
Read full gazette below:

Sri Lanka Urges U.S. to Reduce Human Rights Focus as China Gains

Sri Lanka is urging the U.S. to avoid letting human rights concerns dominate the relationship between the countries five years after the end of a civil war that killed as many as 40,000 civilians.
Reconciliation in Sri Lanka is occurring at a “rapid pace” and the government is focused on strengthening its economy, Sajin de Vass Gunawardena, a lawmaker and coordinating secretary to President Mahinda Rajapaksa, said in an interview in Washington. Human rights issues shouldn’t hinder closer economic ties with the U.S., he said.

Sri Lanka: Unidentified motorcyclists follow Bar Association President's vehicle

President of the Sri Lanka Bar Association Upul Jayasuriya has lodged a complain at the cinnamon garden police saying a group of unindentified people who came in two motorcycles and a three wheeler followed his vehicle today. Jayasuriya has told the Cinnamon Garden police that the incident posed a threat to his personal security. A spokesperson from the police department told Asian Mirror that they were investigating into the incident.

Sri lanka: Rajarata Uni student's sathyagraha hut burnt for the third time

The temporary hut that sheltered Rajarata University student protesters was burnt for the third time early this morning. Rajarata University Students Federation member Lasantha Priyankara said a group of men came in a van and hurled a bottle of petrel to blaze the hut. However, students staying inside the hut at the time of the incident have not been injured by the blaze. The Student Sathyagraha which has demanded the university authorities to lift the class suspension on 28 students would complete 213 days today.

Asylum-seekers in Sri Lanka: Paradise lost

The Economist

DOZENS of Pakistani asylum-seekers have been locked up in a detention camp in southern Sri Lanka following mass arrests that the UN’s refugee agency, UNHCR, says it never saw coming. The sweep started on June 9th in Negombo, a breezy seaside resort famous for its churches and beaches,on Sri Lanka’s west coast. Police went door-to-door with immigration officials and rounded up 142 men in seven days. Families wailed as the men were whisked away, without explanation, to a notorious prison known for housing terrorist suspects.

Sri Lanka bans NGOs engaging in public communications and conducting training

SLB

The Government of Sri Lanka has banned Non Governmental Organisations holding press conferences, couducting work shops, issuing press releases ect. This act amount to clear violation of number of fundermantal rights, including right to information, freedom of expression.Number of NGOs told Sri Lanka Breif that theywill chellenge the circuler in courts.

Here is the circuler in question:

Switzerland: Fast track asylum process given good report

Jo Fahy, swissinfo.ch and agencies
A pilot project to slash the length of time taken to process asylum applications has received a positive report. Five months in, more cases have been handled than expected at the fast-track asylum centre in Zurich. The Juch asylum centre opened in January with the aim of taking decisions on applications for asylum within 140 days, or nearly five months, in each case. Nearly 670 cases began the faster procedure and decisions were taken in 319 of them. Forty-four of them were positive, meaning the applicant was granted asylum.

Govt. has no option but to face UN probe – UNP

My office is ready -Pillay

President’s Counsel and UNP MP Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe yesterday said that the government had no option but to face the proposed UN investigation conducted in terms of the Geneva-based United Nations Human Rights Council resolution 25/1.

The former President of the Bar Association of Sri Lanka (BASL) Rajapakshe was responding on behalf of the UNP to the SLFP’s decision that Sri Lanka’s participation in the investigative process would be decided by parliament.

Conclusions and recommendations of the Sri Lanka report by Chaloka Beyani, the UN SP on the human rights of IDPs

IDPs in Sri Lanka ( file photo/UN)

Summary
The Special Rapporteur on the human rights of internally displaced persons, Chaloka Beyani, conducted an official mission to the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka (hereafter Sri Lanka) from 2 to 6 December 2013, at the invitation of the Government and pursuant to his mandate contained in resolution 23/8 of the Human Rights Council. The objective of the mission was to engage in a dialogue with the Government with a view to promoting durable solutions for the significant number of internally displaced persons (IDPs) who have been in need of such solutions since the end of the conflict in Sri Lanka in 2009.

Death threats to Ruhuna University lecturers

Thugs led by MP Jayasuriya

University teachers question as to whether S.B. Dissanayake is the minister in charge of higher education, or if not livestock or terrorism affairs.Their association FUTA, at a media briefing in Colombo today (06), charged the government of being behind death threats received by lecturers of Ruhunu University after they condemned an attack on students of the university.President of the association Dr. Chandragupta Thenuwara said they strongly protested the higher education minister’s having called lecturers and students by names of various animals.

Sri Lanka: 1,500 undergraduates suspended since 2010

Uni students' protest   ( photo: demotix)

Over 1,500 undergraduates have been suspended up to date since 2010, with more undergraduates being imprisoned, harassed and abducted in an ever increasing rise in student suppression, student activists said.
 Addressing the media last evening (4), the Inter University Students Federation (IUSF) alleged that over 1,500 students have been banned from their respective universities, 76 have been imprisoned, three have been abducted and three have been killed. The IUSF Convener also charged government affiliated politicians of stirring unrest between undergraduates and villagers, citing the discord which resulted in the closure of the Ruhuna University earlier this week.

Sri Lanka: Master Blaster Sanath Jayasuriya rips open students’ heads – JVP

Tilvyn Silva showing evidence

The government closes universities to hold carnivals, while the master blaster has become a thug leader ripping open students’ heads, said JVP secretary Tilvyn Silva. Speaking to the media in Colombo today (03), Mr. Silva condemned the attack on the previous day on Ruhuna University students by government thugs led by Sanath Jayasuriya. After digging his own grave, Mervyn Silva is now keeping silent, while his role has been taken over by Sanath Jaysuriya who is trying to dig graves for the students, said the JVP secretary.

Former cricketer, ruling party MP Sanath Jayasuriya's thugs attack Ruhuna Uni students

Jayasuriya leading  the unruly crowd

A group of thugs of politicians who stormed into the University of Ruhuna at around 2.00 pm  on June 02 have allegedly attacked a group of students and threatened lecturers. A group of nearly 300 of parliamentarian Sanath Jayasuriya, Provincial Council Minister D.V Upul and Aruna Gunaratne have thus been involved in the attack, reports say. As the thugs chased the students they have hidden in safe locations. Some thugs, who claimed that the students did not allow the Deyata Kirula National Exhibition to be held in the university premises, have possessed clubs and battens.

Sri Lanka: Dangerous justification of extra-judicial killings

SSP Ajith : living in a fool's paradise

Editorial - Ceylon Today

Yesterday, our lead story, quoting Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said that hereafter police would use 'necessary force' as opposed to 'minimum force' in dealing with troublemakers.He said this to seemingly justify the recent killings of suspects in police custody and the police assault on protesting undergraduates.

Extra judicial killings by the police and the country's armed forces first came into focus during the April 1971 insurgency, where it is estimated that 13,000 Sinhala youth, both men and women, from the South, lost their lives, many of whom, ipso facto, were victims of extra-judicial killings.

Students at University of Jaffna commemorate Mullivaikkal massacre

Tamil nation remembers Mullivaikal massacre 5 years on, amidst military ban 
Students at University of Jaffna commemorate Mullivaikkal massacre 5 years on, amidst death threats and military ban.  In commemorative events across the North-East and the world, the Tamil nation marked 5 years since the massacre of tens of thousands at the end of the armed conflict on May 18th 2009.

Jaffna: Entrace to Uthayan Newspaper blocked by Military; work disrupted

Militarised Jaffna ( file photo)

Roads blocked in Jaffna 

Access to Uthayan newspaper office in Jaffna and the Keerimalai Naguleswaram Temple were restricted by military forces today creating a tense situation in the areas in Jaffna, sources said.

 According to a staff member of the Uthayan newspaper office, the two entrances leading to the office from the Navalar Road and Kasthuriyar Road were blocked by the military and all those who entered the road had been questioned of their whereabouts and where they were heading.

Tamil National People’s Front : ‘We have the right to remember our people’

May 18th is a day that marks the genocide of the Tamil people, said the Tamil National People’s Front (TNPF), criticising the government’s ban on remembrance events. “We have the right to remember our people who were killed in their masses,” said the TNPF, declaring the day as a Genocide Day.

“May 18th when the war came to an end through a genocide is a black day in a the Tamil people’s history. It cannot be forgotten.”

Sri Lanka 5 years after war's end : Memorials, blood donation banned in North-East

No right to remember

Security measures have been stepped up in the Northern and Eastern Provinces after some groups vowed to defy a ban on public commemorative events coinciding with today’s fifth anniversary of the end of the war. Jaffna’s Senior Police Superintendent W. Wimalasena said no public events would be allowed to commemorate those who died as the Government had declared today as Victory Day.

His warning came as the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and a defeated UNP provincial council candidate finalised plans to hold separate commemorative events in Jaffna today.