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On May 21, 2009 Rajiv Naganathan had made one final call to his mother Sarojini. The 19 -year old Naganathan was abducted on September 17, 2008, one of 11 young boy victims at the centre of an abduction for ransom racket allegedly run by Sri Lanka Navy personnel and busted by the Criminal Investigation Department […]

Cartoon by @Nikshazz . Sri Lanka’s floating voters, struggling to find their feet in the unpromising pandemonium of November’s Presidential elections, can only flinch from ‘Pohottuwa’ Presidential candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s promise at his inaugural campaign rally following nominations in Anuradhapura on Wednesday, that he would free all ‘war heroes’ held in custody on ‘bogus charges’ the day after he […]

Image: A slew of pro-democracy civil society organisations  has declared their support for New Democratic Front candidate and UNP Deputy Leader Sajith Premadasa at the forthcoming presidential elections. The National Movement for Social Justice and the Puravesi Balaya, the two best known pro-democracy social activist movements, announced to the news media yesterday that they wanted […]

Wimal Fernando. The two major parties, namely the SLPP and the UNF have announced Gotabaya Rajapaksa and Sajith Premadasa respectively as their presidential candidates. The third force JVP has announced Anura Kumara Dissanayake as their candidate. In addition there are several other candidates who either represent various other political parties or come as Independent candidates […]

Image: Trinco Navy camp where abducted 11 youth were held. The Office on Missing Persons (OMP) has decided to raise their concerns with President Maithripala Sirisena on the recent confirmation of rank granted by the Sri Lanka Navy to Commodore D.K.P Dassanayake. The former Navy Spokesman, Dassanayake is one of the main suspects connected to […]

By Meera Srinivasan. “For three years now, Sri Lanka’s tea estate workers have been agitating for a daily basic wage of LKR 1,000.” A tea estate worker in the Dambatenne tea plantation in Haputale, Uva Province. Often described as the backbone of the economy, close to 1.5 lakh tea estate workers have been agitating for fair […]

Professor Chandragupta Thenuwara who was among two petitioners who challenged Gotabaya Rajapaksa’s citizenship status is facing numerous threats By Arjuna Ranawana. Gotabaya Rajapaksa walks out of the Special High Court in Hulftsdorp surrounded by bodyguards/RepublicNext Professor Chandragupta Thenuwara is facing death threats from various persons backing the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna Presidential Candidate Gotabaya Rajapaksa, […]

Basil Rajapaksa told the country that their presidential candidate for the upcoming presidential election “will change himself”. Basil Rajapaksa also told us that “Gotabaya will be a terminator”- an apt description, in view of the connotations of danger attached to the word “terminator”. M.P. Vasudeva Nanayakkara, an unwavering Mahinda Rajapaksa loyalist, accepted that white van […]

File photo: Sri Lanka Muslims in Kathankudy, Eastern province. © Sunanda Deshapriya ” Positive action by BASL in this regard would have sent a salutary message and reassured the public, especially the aggrieved parties, that they have the benefit of legal representation in keeping with the highest professional standards. This is particularly so at a time […]

The United Kingdom Minister of State for the Commonwealth, UN and South Asia and Prime Minister’s Special Representative on Preventing Sexual Violence in Conflict Lord (Tariq) Ahmad of Wimbledon met with the Tamil National Alliance Leader AR. Sampanthan and the Spokesperson Hon M A Sumanthiran in Colombo Yesterday (01.10.2019). Apprising the Minister on the resolution […]

The case filed before the Court of Appeal challenging the Sri Lankan citizenship of SLPP presidential nominee Gotabaya Rajapaksa by Prof. Chandragupta Thenuwara and senior journalist Gamini Viyangoda will be taken up before the three-member Special High Court on October 02, 2019, which is today. The petition’s content collectively simplified is mentioned below; 1. One […]

Full text of the petition filed by two Civil society activists, Gamini Viyangoda and Prof. Chandragupta Thenuwara, who are asking the Courts to quash the Dual Citizenship Certificate and NIC issued to Gotabaya as there is no file pertaining to these matters in the Department of Immigration or the Defense Ministry.    

TO THE ATTENTION OF HIS EXCELLENCY ANTONIO GUTERRES, SECRETARY GENERAL OF THE UNITED NATIONS. UN’s Participation is Vital to Establish Rule of Law and to Protect the Rights of Minorities in Sri-Lanka. Since 1948, we the minority people of Sri-Lanka have continuously been subjected to oppressions by the discriminatory ethnic policies of the governments that […]

Image: The illegal cremation of a Buddhinst monk, despite a court order not to cremate him on the temple land. In a hard hitting letter to president Sirisena, TNA leader R. Sampanthan  says that “failure to independently investigate what happened at Neeraviady Pillayar Temple in Chemmalai, Mullaitivu will only confirm and further encourage this growing trend of […]

Image: Lal Wijenayake, secretary general of the ULF  has been a prominant speaker at Jathika Jana Balawegaya public meetings  for some time now. In an email Dr Jayampathy Wickramaratne, Member of Parliament and National Organizer, United Left Front has explained the position of  United Left Front regarding the up coming presidential election. The text of […]

Image: Sri Lankan Muslim women walk past a roadside shop selling metal plaque engraved with phrases from the Holy Quran in Colombo [File: Eranga Jayawardena/AP] A “harsh and dangerous” crackdown on Sri Lankan Muslims following deadly bombings on Easter Sunday poses a major threat to the Indian Ocean nation’s peace and security, a think-tank has warned. The assailants […]

Image: The accused will be produced t  the State Security Senate of the Higher Regional Court (OLG) Stuttgart.Photo: Lichtgut / Max Kovalenko. (SLB) A Tamil man, who was  member of the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam  will be charged in Higher Regional Court (OLG) in Stuttgart, Germany  for the participation in the killing of former Sri Lankan Foreign […]

Image; Tamil residents of Mullaitivu protest against BBS head Gnanasara, who led the illegal cremation . Northern Province Governor Dr. Suren Raghavan yesterday insisted that politicians should not create communal and religious tensions ahead of the presidential election, targeting the Northern voters and hindering their democratic rights. “As the Northern Province governor, I urge politicians not […]

COLOMBO (Reuters) – The United Nations suspended Sri Lankan Army deployments in the world body’s peacekeeping operations after the Indian Ocean island nation appointed a war veteran who has been accused of serious human rights violations, an official said on Wednesday. Sri Lanka’s president in August appointed war veteran Shavendra Silva as its army chief, […]

Image: Policeman watching from afar at the illegal cremation of  a Buddhist monk in  Chemmalai, Mullaitivu , violating a court order. Perhaps the most important election, with the only competition for this title coming from the parliamentary elections, is just around the corner. How well the result reflects the people’s will depends on the free exercise […]

Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka Hon. Dappula De Livera pC Attorney- General Attorney General’s Department Hulftsdorp Street Colombo. Hon. Attorney General, The Human Rishts Commission of Sri Lanka’s (HRCSL) analysis of the scope of section 3 of the ICCPR Act. No.55 of 2007 and attendant guidelines. The HRCSL is pleased to present herewith the Commission’s legal […]

A group of journalists attached to news websites Sri Lanka Mirror and Sri Lanka X News were released by the Colombo Magistrate’s Court on Friday (20) due to insufficient evidence to prosecute them. Eight journalists, namely Kelum Shivantha, Subhash Jayawardena, Ajith Seneviratne, Himashi Karunaratne, Tharindu Rajapaksa, Shiranthani Manawadu, Asanka Nivantha and Siddique Kariyappar, were released […]

Image: Writer Shasthika Sathkumara was arrested and kept in detention for more than 100 days for writing a short story. Case against him is pending.  Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission has issued guidelines on application of Hate Speech Law (s.3 of ICCPR Act) in a letter addressed to the Acting IGP, Sri Lanka. The HRCSL […]

Police have reported progress in their investigations into allegations Gotabaya Rajapaksa had failed to resume Sri Lankan citizenship he renounced in 2003 and raised serious doubts about his ability to stand at November’s presidential polls. The Criminal Investigations Department in a “B” report informed Colombo Chief magistrate Lanka Jayaratne of the outcome of a near […]

MP Anura Kumara Dissanayake was announced as the Presidential Candidate of the political coalition, National People’s Power- NPP (ජාතික ජන බලවේගය) on 18th August 2019. As the presidential candidate for the coalition, his speech included a general vision for the future of the country that took a liberal position in terms of state policy, governance […]

Image: A group of Muslim women from Hambantota: “We have lived here for generations”. The much anticipated, debated, and controversial presidential election is now just around the corner. The candidate for the SLPP was confirmed and announced; and while there maybe a comforting confidence among the party about securing the majority Sinhala Buddhist vote, winning […]

You have been called on to become world changing. This Friday, you will be joining millions of others around the world in the largest climate protests in history. Demanding the future that is your right to claim. Fighting against powerful foes to save everything. That future you’re fighting for? That’s what I’ve spent my whole life […]

Image: The placard asks by implication: When will you start issuing ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) ©Sunanda Deshapriya. The Government has extended, by two more years, legal provisions that enable issuance of a ‘Certificate of Absence’ (CoA) to families of war-time missing and disappeared persons. The Registrar-General’s Department issued a Gazette Extraordinary last Wednesday to extend the effective […]

Gotabaya Rajapaksa has unveiled his national strategy or vision as a presidential candidate with an authoritarian zeal. This is clear from his Viyathmaga speech. He should be commended however for his fairly clear expression of views and objectives. His definition of objective of government was the following at the outset: “The objective of any government […]

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Sri Lanka is going into another presidential election in a few weeks with unresolved human rights issues and undelivered promises in hand. The Executive Presidency continues unabolished despite repeated promises of the presidential candidates who came to power in the last 25 years. Though the 19th Amendment to the Constitution trimmed the powers […]