rule of law

Image; Mazahina, left, pictured with her husband, was arrested over a pattern on one of her dresses which was wrongly believed to resemble the dharmachakra, a Buddhist symbol [Lisa Fuller/Al Jazeera] by Lisa Fuller & Rukshana Rizwie . Hasalaka, Sri Lanka – On May 17, police in central Sri Lanka arrested Abdul Raheem Mazahina, a soft-spoken 47-year-old grandmother, because […]

Image. Half burned Quran found at a Mosque that was set on fire by extremist Sinhalese mobs . (14 June 2019, London.) The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) express its strong condemnation of the anti-Muslim hatred and hysteria being whipped up by sections of Sinhala Buddhist community, and call on the Sri Lankan authorities to take […]

Anurangi Singh & Aanya Wipulasena. The emerging but problematic trend of arresting persons, typically belonging to one ethnic group in particular, and then calling for evidence against them, during this ‘volatile’ time is worrying and makes a mockery of the justice process, experts say. Several high profile cases – against Dr. Seigu Shihabdeen Mohamed Shafi,(gynecologist […]

“You really feel like your country has betrayed you.” Sonali Samarasinghe remembers the last words of her husband, Lasantha Wickrematunge, on the day in 2009 when he was killed: “Don’t worry, I got it under control.” Threats weren’t new to Wickrematunge. As the editor of The Sunday Leader, a Sri Lankan newspaper that published articles […]

Image: Muslim ministers speaking at a press conference, announcing their resignation. ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s Muslim ministers have resigned protesting rising hate and harassment of their community, despite helping security forces apprehend Islamist extremists who carried out suicide bombings. At least nine ministers and deputies will resign but will remain in the backbenches, they said. […]

In the wake of Sri Lanka’s Easter Sunday attacks, we have one (Muslim) Minister confessing to calling the Army Commander to ‘inquire into’ the fate of a Muslim suspect arrested following the Easter Sunday attacks and another (Sinhala) Minister being so bold as to transport Sinhalese rioters attacking Muslim shops in Kurunegala from one police […]

ECONOMYNEXT – Sri Lanka’s police chief Pujith Jayasundera, now on compulsory leave, following Easter Sunday bomb attacks, has petitioned the Supreme Court alleging he was kept out of national security council meetings after October 2018, and he was offered a diplomatic post if he resigned. A Deputy Inspector General who was head of State Intelligence […]

Image: In Bandara Koswatte, the mob attacked the main mosque despite Police and Army presence, says HRCSL. In a letter to Acting Inspector General of Police, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka  has provided evidence of police complicity in the recent anti-Muslim attacks in Sri Lanka and recommended urgent action to be taken . Same quotes form the […]

The Tamil National Alliance unequivocally condemns the President’s act of pardoning Ven. Gnanasara Thero by abusing the Constitutional powers vested in the Head of State. He was jailed by the Court of Appeal for committing the offence of contempt against the Magistrate’s Court of Homagama. The conviction and sentencing happened after the learned Magistrate complained […]

Image: The central market in Minuwangoda in western Sri Lanka following the riots on May 13 [Rukshana Rizwie/Al Jazeera] Muslims live in fear after wave of attacks is blamed on Buddhist hardliners in the wake of Easter Sunday bombings. by Lisa Fuller & Rukshana Rizwie Kottaramulla, Sri Lanka – The stench of turpentine overpowered Jiffriya Ameer as […]

There is much good sense in the assertion by Sri Lanka’s Catholic Church this Friday that despicable communal violence by organised mobs against Muslims in the North Western Province and Minuwangoda a few days earlier was not only politically instigated but also a deliberate attempt to turn public focus away from the shock and horror […]

In the old story of the New Testament, Easter was the end of agony. It marked the glory of resurrection, yet another fable in humankind’s vain attempt to get past death. In Post- Easter Sri Lanka, on the other hand,there is no glory, only agony; endless questions and loads of blame. Who is to blame? […]

Wrong To Have Withdrawn Military Training Ambassador Blake regretted that after the Sri Lanka-LTTE war ended in May 2009, the US had stopped its military aid and training programs in the island on the plea that there had been human rights violations by the Lankan military. “In the last years of the war in 2008 […]

Image: After the Easter Sunday carnage (c) Ishara K. /AFP. Open Letter to the President, the Prime Minister, members of the Cabinet and Members of Parliament regarding the situation in Sri Lanka. Your Excellencies: We, the undersigned women and men, are members of civil society and are drawn from all religious and ethnic communities. Our […]

Image: The eight men the Islamic State group says carried out the attacks, as shown in this video grab from the group’s propaganda agency Amaq (AFP Photo/HO) On December 26 last year, scores of Buddhist statues in Mawanella were vandalized. A Criminal Investigation Department (CID)investigation led to the arrest of seven suspects, including one who was […]

Image: After Easter Sunday attacks,  Negambo church. (c) Reuters. The carnage on Easter Sunday against three Christian churches, three leading hotels and two other locations have killed more than 300 and injured over 500.  The scale and coordinated nature of the bomb attacks have been shocking.  This brings an end to the ten year period […]

Susutha R. Fernando & Gihan de Chikera. While many Christians, non-Christians, politicians and government leaders in Sri Lanka were gripped by the fire that engulfed the historic Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris last Monday, little attention was given to a mob attack on a small Christian congregation in the remote hamlet of Kumbichchikulama, near Anuradhapura. […]

During the past few weeks, I have been watching the many headlines, debates, misinformation, misrepresentation of facts as well as self-congratulatory statements by some members of the delegation that went to Geneva to participate in the 40th session of the Human Rights Council where the High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet presented the Report […]

The Hybrid Court could be constituted following the example of the International Independent Group of Eminent Persons (IIGEP) under the Chairmanship of Justice Bhagavathy, former Northern Province Chief Minister and former Supreme Court Judge C.V. Wigneswaran said. “Having already granted nearly four years by Resolutions Numbers 30/1 and 34/1, the granting of a further two […]

Sunday Observer cartoon by @wasanthasiri . A well-functioning legal system can be measured by its response to daily crimes and complaints. This is a much better test in fact, rather than a country’s constitution (in Sri Lanka’s case, the 1978 constitution still remains a major barrier to the functioning of a legal system), or statutes, […]

(DM/16.03.19)Lawyers for Democracy yesterday filed a rights petition in the Supreme Court challenging the acting appointment made to the post of Court of Appeal President. Petitioners Lal Wijenayake, G.A. Sunil Jayaratne, Luxman Jothikumar and R.A. Namal Rajapakse allege that the 12th respondent Justice Deepali Wijesundera has been repeatedly and successively appointed as the Acting President […]

It is now three months since the interpretation of our constitution by the Supreme Court of the country was respected by the President and the relevant political leaders, and the constitutional crisis he created was resolved. Yet the country continues to be trapped in problems of critical concern for all of us. The President The […]

Kishali Pinto Jayewardena. (Sunday Times/03.3.19) Verbal gymnastics indulged in by Sri Lankan politicians in respect of the draft Counter Terrorism Act (CTA), now before Parliament awaiting amendments from the sectoral oversight committee, are vastly entertaining in truth. The ‘political hot potato’ Unlikely champions of constitutional rights are emerging from the Rajapaksa-led opposition. This week, the […]

Mr. President, We, Franciscans International, Amnesty International, International Movement Against All Forms of Discrimination and Racism (IMADR) take note on the mission report of the UN Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of human rights while countering terrorism to Sri Lanka in July 2017. We endorse the recommendation to institute a moratorium on the […]

Image: Special Rapporteur on countering terrorism  Fionnuala Ní Aoláin. In the context of Sri Lanka, as mandate holder I have continued the engagement opened up by the visit of Mr. Emmerson July 2017. The report affirms the important opportunity available to the government to address long-standing and serious human rights concerns, in respect of fair trial, allegations […]

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (UNFPA/1 Mar 2019): “I was travelling in a bus when the man seated next to me started to touch my thigh, while he was pretending to sleep. When I confronted him, I knew he would try to escape, especially since he had already made several such attempts. This is not the first […]

Lawyers for Democracy (LfD) notes, with grave concern that President Maithripala Sirisena plans to execute at least 13 death row prisoners. By lifting a 43-year moratorium on the death penalty, the President will do great damage to Sri Lanka’s human rights leadership in the region, its compliance with its international obligations and reputation. This arbitrary […]

Image: Burned body ( File photo) (The Island/February 20, 2019) Investigations being conducted by the Criminal Investigations Department have revealed that some members of the Southern Province Special Crime Operations Unit killed two businessmen, abducted from the Ratgama police area, recently. Investigations have revealed that the bodies of the victims were destroyed by the policemen. […]

19th February, 2019. Dear President Sirisena, We, the below signed citizens and civil society organizations of Sri Lanka are dismayed and alarmed by your recent statements, including in the Parliament (6th February, 2019), pertaining to the Constitutional Council (CC) and the Human Rights Commission (HRCSL). The Constitutional Council and the Human Rights Commission are among […]

By Jehan Perera. President Maithripala Sirisena has been joined by former president Mahinda Rajapaksa and by other opposition members in denouncing the institution of the Constitutional Council and the independent commissions established under the 19th Amendment. They have attributed many ill effects as flowing from these institutions. These include repeatedly defying the president’s wishes, being […]