Human Rights

Image: Anti-Muslim riots at Digana, March 2018 file photo/SO. The recent Easter attacks targeting a number of churches and hotels devastated Sri Lanka. Over 250 people were killed, and many more injured. Within days of the attack, it emerged that the perpetrators of the attack were affiliated to radical Islamist groups in Sri Lanka. However, the […]

PLOT THICKENS: Hospital director, dentist Weera Bandara, fabricated evidence and misled court to save Kurunegala DIG Kithsiri Jayalath who sparked the sterilisation scare by planting a story in the Divaina newspaper against Dr. Shafi. Only 11 cases relevant: Here they are. Total of 615 complaints received by police. 468 of them after media reports that […]

Image:BBS Secretary Gnanasara Thero. The 7 July ‘Rally of the Un-Enlightened’ (Colombo Telegraph, 4 July), that fizzled out without the expected turnout of 10,000 Buddhist monks, was the most emphatic demonstration yet by the majority Sinhala Buddhists that they would not allow hatred and bigotry to hijack the millennial legacy of peaceful coexistence of different […]

Speech delivered by Hon R Sampanthan MP, at Matara on 7th July 2019, at the event to felicitate Hon Mangala Samraweera MP, Minister completion of 30 years in active politics. Hon Mangala Samaraweera my dear friend for a long time, Hon Sajith Premadasa Minister, Hon Ministers Hon State Ministers, Hon Deputy Ministers Hon Members of […]

(Republic next) A senior constitutional expert has expressed concern over President Maithripala Sirisena’s appointment of a professional advisory board on national security chaired by Parliamentarian Dr. Sarath Amunugama earlier today. Edinburgh Centre for Constitutional Law Director Dr. Asanga Welikala speaking to RepublicNext said while the creation of such a body is not strictly unconstitutional in […]

A father-and-son duo languish in jail under terrorism charges for possessing the deadly “C-4” explosive material when all they had in their Madhu rural home was just 234 grams of Chlorine powder. A successful specialist surgeon faces a ruined medical career while his wife and children are marooned in a social sea of race-hate and […]

There is palpable confusion in the air. Is Sri Lanka’s Inspector General of Police (IGP) Pujitha Jayasundara, arrested this week along with former Defence Secretary Hemasiri Fernando on a range of offences under the Penal Code, including murder and causing death by negligence, still holding the position of head of the police force, albeit being […]

The Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC) has been monitoring closely the situation of Muslims in Sri Lanka and remains concerned about the rise in incidents of intimidation, anti-Muslim rhetoric and hate speech promulgated by certain groups in the country. In line with the Final Communique of the 14th Islamic Summit Conference of OIC Heads of […]

Investigators of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) probing the Navy abductions case say former Navy Commander Admiral Wasantha Karannagoda has admitted to having knowledge of five youth being abducted from Dehiwala and that they were held at the Eastern Naval Command. In the B-report presented to courts, the CID also said Karannagoda had failed to […]

A month after hundreds of people were killed in Easter Sunday bomb attacks in Sri Lanka, a major local newspaper published a report claiming that a Muslim surgeon was a member of a terrorist group linked to the attacks and had secretly sterilised 4,000 Sinhala Buddhist women. The story was picked up by local television channels […]

In the midst of the ongoing sittings of the Parliamentary Select Committee to investigate the Easter Sunday bombings two senior officials in the public service have been arrested by the police. The charges against former Defense Secretary Hemasiri Fernando and Inspector General of Police Pujith Jayasundara are that they did not take sufficient action to […]

Image: Atlas, a leading local stationary firm, said that it is caught in an anti-Muslim boycott campaign which flared up after the Easter Sunday attack. By Chandeepa Wettasinghe. ECONOMYNEXT- Students in Sri Lanka’s education system are being ridiculed and are facing ‘punishment’ for using stationary produced by a firm caught in an anti-Muslim boycott, an […]

Image courtesy of Tamil Diplomat. by Meera Srinivasan. Five students were shot dead in 2006 at Trincomalee. A magistrate court in Sri Lanka has acquitted Special Task Force (STF) and police personnel accused of killing five students in Trincomalee in Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province, in 2006. According to the State-run Daily News, the Trincomalee Chief Magistrate on Wednesday released […]

Image: Sri Lankan security officers inspect vandalized shops owned by Muslims in Minuwangoda, a suburb of Colombo, Sri Lanka, Tuesday, May 14, 2019.  © 2019 AP Photo/Chamila Karunarathne (New York) – Authorities in Sri Lanka should end arbitrary arrests and other abuses against Muslims and appropriately protect the community from violence, Human Rights Watch said today. Since the Easter […]

Vishwamithra. “A Boss in Heaven is the best excuse for a boss on earth, therefore If God did exist, he would have to be abolished.’’ ~ Mikhail Bakunin  Being born a Buddhist, educated at one of the leading Buddhist schools in Colombo and for that matter by one of the greatest erudite scholarly monks at […]

Image: Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi . By The Sunday Morning News Desk. Severe shortcomings and irregularities including the submission of fabricated and falsified facts by high-level Police officials in relation to the case filed against Dr. Seigu Siyabdeen Mohammed Shafi attached to the Kurunegala Teaching Hospital, have been unearthed by the Police Criminal Investigation Department […]

Cartoon: Sajith Bandara @tmdsbekanayaka,  Norway and Germany have expressed deep concern regarding the Sri Lankan President’s decision to resume executions in the country for drug offenders. “Norway is deeply concerned that Sri Lanka intends to implement the death penalty, which would put an end to Sri Lanka’s 43-year moratorium on the use of this cruel and […]

The International Commission of Jurists (ICJ) categorically condemns Sri Lankan President Maithripala Sirisena’s endorsement of death warrants of four people convicted of drug-related offences. Today, the ICJ urged the President to stop the imminent execution of these four  convicts and to respect the de facto moratorium Sri Lanka has observed on capital punishment that over the past 43 […]

Issuing  a statement on President Sirisena’s statement that he has authorized to carry out death penalty for 4 convicted prisoners in the death raw, the European  Union says that it will continue to monitor Sri Lanka’s effective implementation of the 27 international conventions relating to the Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) commitment, including the International […]

Image:Fr Ashok Stephen (FA) delivering his speech at HRC 41. Franciscans International, International Movement against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) and Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA) welcome the Oral update of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. We join her in expressing condolences to survivors, victims’ families and communities […]

The Easter Sunday attacks compelled local Muslims to engage in self – introspection of the unfolding wave of radicalization and Arabization of their community. That is a welcome development in an otherwise heinous carnage. Especially so since, until the serial monstrosity on the Easter Sunday, a vocal group of Muslims were defending the on-going transformation […]

24 June 2019 ¦ GENEVA / KAMPALA. Each year up to 1 billion children experience some form of physical, sexual or psychological violence or neglect. Being a victim of violence in childhood can damage children’s physical and mental health and affect their whole lives. A new resource – School-based violence prevention: a practical handbook – recognizes the […]

Image; Shakthika Sathkumara When protective laws turn offensive -Tharumalee Silva. Even though we cannot declare Ardha a successful short story, Sathkumara’s arrest threatens writers and artists’ right to freedom of expression. Furthermore, if he was in the wrong, he should’ve been tried under the Penal Code rather than under the ICCPR Act – Writers’ Organisation […]

“Muslim people don’t love us… I say don’t go to those shops. Don’t eat or drink from those shops…. It is clear that they are a group who gave poison to our people, who tried to destroy our people… I think that the younger generation who eats (from them) will not have children in the […]

Image: The child’s home, a ramshackle shack. (ST) This week, a small child died of malnutrition in Tissamaharama at the same time that Sri Lanka’s Parliament debated the passing of millions of public funds to purchase luxury vehicles for Ministers as well as former President and current Opposition Leader, Mahinda Rajapaksa. Laid out in her white […]

Image: President Mahinda Rajapaksa at the Asgiriya Chapter temple in Kandy, to open a new Pirivena building on the premises in 2009 (File photo) It is generally assumed we have passed the stone age, the bronze age, the iron age, the industrial age and the space age. After a breathtaking dive in to the digital age, […]

In a letter to the Minister of Justice and Prison Reforms, the Free Media Movement has expressed its concern that the given current context the proposed legal amendments related to false news distribution and hate speech could seriously threaten the freedom of expression and media freedom in the country. T The letter follows: June 17, […]

Citra Abbott and Matthias Böhnke. ‘Everyone knows that somewhere out there extremely dangerous people are running around who could attack again at any time’ Many Christians in Sri Lanka are still too scared to go to church – in spite of security put in place following the Easter Day bombings. Returning from a fact-finding and […]

Image: Tamils being attacked in 1958 ethnic violence in Sri Lanka. Since then ethnic violence has been permanent feature in post independent Sri Lanka. The terrorist attacks that took place on the 21st Sunday 2019 caused grave loss and damage to many Sri Lankans. The multiple explosions island wide, including those that followed over the next […]

Rough translation of comments by the Asgiriya Mahanayake: “We got to know some good news. That in the future, Chamal Rajapaksa will become President. This is in fact cause for happiness. We didn’t know this before. I call upon Mayantha Dissanayake as well to join that side to build and protect this country. The Muslims […]