Police brutality

Sri Lankan police officers assaulted two Tamil youths despite them insisting “they did not commit any crimes”. The head of the Vavuniya Echchankulam police station attacked the youths today evening in Vavuniya which sparked fear and unrest across the village. Youths and villagers congregated and blocked the main road in front of the Echchankulam Pillaiyar Temple and […]

Image: A file photo. The Free Media movement strongly condemns the obstruction by police officers outside the court premises, to the attempt made by Chamal Fernando, a journalist of the Sri Lanka Rūpavāhinī Corporation who went there on 15.07.2020 to report the driver responsible for the fatal accident of police officers in Matara Kirinda, being […]

Image: Senior Deputy Inspector General Deshabandu Tennakoon visiting Lunava after killing of a fisherman by the police. From a photojournalist being frogmarched by a suspect cop implicated in Sri Lanka’s 2012 Welikada prison massacre in the very premises of the High Court this Friday as aghast bystanders scuttled out of the way to lawyers being […]

Media Release/July 11, 2020. The Free Media Movement strongly condemns the forceful obstruction, intimidation and threats made by Inspector Neomal Rangajeewa, disrupting the work of professional photojournalist Akila Jayawardena at the Colombo High Court premises, Court no 1. Akila Jayawardene has stated that Inspector Neomal Rangajiva the former OIC of the Sri Lanka Police Anti-Narcotics […]

The Federation of University Teachers’ Associations (FUTA) unreservedly condemns the attack by the police on a peaceful protest in Colombo on the 9th of June 2020. This protest was in response to the killing of George Floyd, a US citizen by the police, in Minneapolis, USA. There has been an outpouring of global anger against […]

The news of the brutal assault by police on Thariq Ahamed, a 14 year old autistic boy of Dharga Town, Aluthgama is shocking and the prejudice that ensued after by the Police and the JMO needs to be exposed. Thariq was diagnosed with autism spectrum disorder since he was 4 and his development has been […]

Washington, D.C. – The United Nations Working Group on Arbitrary Detention has issued an opinion finding the Government of Sri Lanka to be in contravention of its international human rights obligations for the four month pre-trial detention of author Shakthika Sathkumara. Responding to a petition filed by Freedom Now, the UN concluded that Sathkumara was detained for […]

SC orders State to pay Rs. 1 m in compensation, Rs. 250,000 each from four Police officers Read full judgment here: Embilipitiya SC order sc_fr_577_2010 The Supreme Court yesterday directed the State to pay Rs. 1 million in compensation to a woman whose husband died in Police custody in September 2010, and ordered four Police […]

Landmark ruling raps Police over Matara schoolgirl unlawful arrest case. Reacting to the growing abuse of power by law enforcement authorities, the Supreme Court, in a landmark ruling, has issued 20 guidelines to be followed by law enforcement authorities for the secure and advancing the rights of the public. This came as part of the […]

Image: Police arrested opposition politicians including MP Namal Rajapaksa for holding a illegal demostration in Hambantota on 6th October ( credit twitter) A case of excessive police force against a peaceful public protest at Hambantota Town on 6 October 2017. The protest was attended by thousands of people, including religious leaders, political party leaders, members of […]

The Asian Human Rights Commission reports two recent incidents in the South of Sri Lanka where police had shot at alleged ‘suspects’, killing one and injuring another. The statements by AHRC follows: The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information about Mr. Rajamuni Devage Gunadasa of second milepost, Rale Kanda, Alawwa, Warakapola in the Kegalle […]

Images: Torture marks on Wickrama Aarachchige Nimal’s body. On 17 January, 2017, Wickrama Aarachchige Nimal, 55 years of age, a resident of No: 1/4/A, Wela Ihala, Handapangoda, in the Kaluthara District is a farmer, married with two children and his wife is a housewife. During the season when farming is not being carried out he engages […]

Issuing a statement Tamil National Alliance says it is shocked by the extent to which the draft framework curtails civil liberties, erodes judicial control over the state security apparatus and the staggering potential for abuse and torture. We are unequivocally committed to supporting a legal framework that would prevent and punish acts of terrorism in […]

(Kadireshan Ravishankar, AHRC photo) by Basil Fernando. Kadireshan Ravishankar, 34 was severely tortured by the HQI and other officers of the Hatton police station merely for failing to provide a haircut immediately on his order a couple of days ago. The case exposes the dangers of not allowing lawyers from representing their clients at police […]

By Basil Fernando. One more judgement from the Supreme Court on the issue of torture by the Sri Lankan police was added to a long list of such judgements when the Supreme Court decided in favour of a petition filed by W N L K Fernando of Naththandiya police against officers attached to the Wennapuwa […]

Sri Lankan police on Saturday shot at a Tamil man in Mullaitivu after he demanded to see an arrest warrant. Police in civil pictured with the gun used to shoot at the Tamil man The 27 year old man, Vivekanandan Thijeevan was at home in the highly militarised Keppapilavu mode village when two police officers […]

The direct police involvement in two high profile murders have been established, but a more alarming cover up that goes right to the top has also been uncovered, sources close to the investigation said. Colombo Additional Magistrate Nishantha Peiris on Thursday ruled that Sri Lanka’s former rugby captain Wasim Thajudeen had been murdered contrary to […]

( Some of the prisoners who were allegedly massacred at the Welikada Prison in Colombo) By Ashanthi Warunasuriya. The 2012 Welikada prison riot which left 27 dead and many more injured was a horrific incident of human rights violation that became the subject of intense discussion both locally and internationally. Today, it has once again […]

The police Criminal Investigations Department Tuesday arrested an Assistant Superintendent after an intense media outcry over a police attack that led to the death of a 29-year-old man. ASP Dharmaratne was questioned at the Police Garage where he was posted by Inspector General N K Illangakoon despite a court order last week for his immediate […]

Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe yesterday, in Parliament, lashed out at the media, accusing them of promoting racism. “You don’t talk big because your hands are not clean. What are all doing with regard to racism? I mean all newspapers. I am asking the electronic and print media. What do you have to say about the incident at […]

( Key eye witness Sumith Prasanna’s wife) A Sri Lankan court today ordered the immediate arrest of officers and constables involved in the storming of a party and causing a death that triggered widespread anger against the police as well as the government. Embilipitiya magistrate Prasanna Fernando ordered the arrest of 22 police following an […]

Now it has come to light that police Spokesman Ruwan Gunasekara lied to public to cover police brutality in Embilipitiya murder case. Police has allegedly thrown a Embilipitiya resident Sumith Priyanatha out of a window causing his death. The death  had triggered massive  protests  at the Embilipitya Town. The incident took place on night of […]

Shashika Nishamani Munasinghe, the widow of Sumith Prasanna Munasinghe (29) who died after a controversial fall from a three-storey building in Embilipitiya two weeks ago, during a clash with the police said yesterday that she seen her husband being pushed off the building. Addressing a media briefing held in Maradana yesterday at which her daughter, […]

When former Rugby player Wasim Thajudeen’s body was exhumed in August this year, just seven days before a crucial Parliamentary election, some sections of the society thought it would be another ‘election gimmick.’ They believed the Police would not be able to probe into the incident in a free and fair manner, as the investigation […]

(PTI) COLOMBO: In a landmark decision, Sri Lankan police have been ordered to pay compensation for assaulting a group of students at a demonstration here, the first time they have been censured for violating international humanitarian law. The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has ordered the police to pay USD 1,035 to nine […]

(HELP: File photo of another police attack.) ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s police may have scored an own goal by trying to invoke the United Nation’s Universal Declaration on Human Rights as a defence against allegations they used excessive force in breaking up a student demonstration in October. SSP Ajith Rohana, a former police spokesman, argued […]

Today the Lankan Police is placed in the nation’s dock, publicly indicted with the charge of resorting to inhumane and primitive methods to wring confessions out of suspects in police custody. The time has arrived for the Chief of Police to publicly take cognizance of the allegations made by the victims, to take note of […]

They were most inhumanly “treated” by the Police on 29 October when they marched to the UGC with their grievances. Photos and video clips that stole the day via traditional and social media of this ruthless and inhuman police attack on HNDE and university students suddenly jolted the Colombo middle class from their comfort zones […]

The majority of 225 parliamentarians condemned the police attack on students –  the Deputy Speaker . Security measures in and around Parliament were decided by defence experts on the basis of threat perception analysis, Deputy Speaker Thilanga Sumathipala said yesterday. Addressing a press conference at the Parliamentary Complex, the Deputy Speaker said that the army […]

Sri Lanka’s powerful business grouping, the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce (CCC) on Tuesday lent its support to the chorus of protests over the recent attack on demonstrating students in Colombo by the police that has evoked outrage across the country. The chamber said it wished to express its deep concern over the brutality of the […]