Torture

Image: Police torture is endemic in Sri Lanka. The proposed amendments to  the Code of Criminal Procedure, which were gazetted on 6th March,  if enacted, allow for a situation that  the Officer in Charge of a Police Station can deny lawyers from accessing detainees and even police stations if such access would “impede ongoing investigations” says […]

Image: Ambassador Ravinatha P. Aryasinha at the GoSL side event held on 1st March at place des nations.©s.dshapriya On 03rd Friday Ambassador / Permanent Representative of Sri Lanka Ravinatha P. Aryasinhathe told the ongoing 34the session of  UNHRC  that Sri Lanka is  currently in the process of deliberating on establishing an effective mechanism   for   constant   […]

Image: Juan E. Méndez , a UN photo. ” Sri Lanka needs urgent and comprehensive measures to ensure structural reform in these institutions to eliminate torture and ensure that all authorities comply with international standards. A piecemeal approach is incompatible with the soon-to-be-launched transitional justice process and could undermine it before it really begins.” says […]

Image by Vikalpa: Protest organised by Right 2 Life HR NGO against the killing of Sadun Malinga. by Basil Fernando. Last week, in the High Court of Badulla five police officers and a security officer were sentenced to death for causing the murder of Sadun Malinga, a 17-year-old boy. The boy and four of his […]

United Nations Committee against Torture (CAT Committee) has published its concluding observations after considering the 5th Periodic Report of Sri Lanka. A high level delegation from Sri Lanka met the members of the CAT Committee on 15th and 16th November 2016. The most comprehensive set of recommendations made by the CAT Committee on Sri Lanka […]

Image: Sri Lanka police; AFP photo. by Press TV. The United Nations Committee against Torture has urged Sri Lanka to investigate documented allegations of rape and torture of detainees by security forces. The UN committee on Wednesday called on the government in Colombo to rein in “broad police powers.” The committee’s report also drew attention […]

Reuters/ By Stephanie Nebehay and Ranga Sirilal | GENEVA/COLOMBO. A U.N. rights watchdog called on Sri Lanka on Wednesday to investigate “routine torture” of detainees by security forces and rebuked its government for failing to prosecute war crimes committed during the country’s 26-year civil war. The Sri Lankan military finally vanquished the separatist Liberation Tigers […]

The UN Committee against Torture has published its findings on the countries it examined during its latest session from 7 November to 7 December: Ecuador, Finland, Monaco, Sri Lanka, Namibia, Turkmenistan, Armenia and Cabo Verde. The findings cover positive aspects of how the respective State is implementing the Convention against Torture, Other Cruel, Inhuman or […]

Image: UNCAT session on Sri Lanka, 15 Nov 2016. Written Additional Information submitted by the Government of Sri Lankaonthe 5th Periodic Report to the UN Committee Against Torture (CAT).  Definition on Torture  On the specific reference that the Act No. 22 of 1994 does not contain the word “suffering”, it may be noted that, the […]

Image: Sri Lanka President too participated in the march against torture organized by NHRC (file photo by Ceylon News). This week saw the conclusion of the UN Committee Against Torture’s review of Sri Lanka, a regular process of expert-based scrutiny designed to monitor implementation of the Convention Against Torture. The meeting, held in Geneva between […]

Image: UNCAT 59 in session. The United Nations Committee Against Torture (UNCAT) is holding its 59th session from November 7 to December 7 in Geneva, Switzerland. Sri Lanka was recently under the microscope of the committee and, to put it mildly, things did not go smoothly. The fact that Sisira Mendis, Sri Lanka’s chief of […]

Image: UNCAT59 in session. COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE CONSIDERS REPORT OF SRI LANKA . The Committee against Torture completed this afternoon its consideration of the fifth periodic report of Sri Lanka on the implementation of the provisions of the Convention against Torture. Introducing the report, Mr. Jayantha Jayasuriya, PC, Attorney-General of Sri Lanka, said that the […]

Image: The CAT session on Sri Lanka will be held at Palais Wilson in Geneva. GENEVA (9 November 2016) – The UN Committee against Torture is due to review Sri Lanka on 15 and 16 November in Geneva. Sri Lanka has ratified the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment […]

Image: Rev. Fr. Nandana Manatunga demands immediate justice (c)s.deshapriya. A well known as a human rights defender Rev. Fr. Nandana Manatunga, is being harassed by the police including the OIC of Wattegama Police Station, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)  reports.  Rev. Fr. Nandana Manatunga is the parish priest of St. Mary’s Church in Wattegama, […]

Excerpts form the report of the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka to the Committee Against Torture, October 2016. Sub headings are from the SLB. Introduction Following the 19th amendment to the Constitution in 2015, which established the Constitutional Council constituting members of political parties as well as civil society mandated to appoint members to […]

Issuing  an urgent appeal  the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has provided information on police inaction on torture committed by its own officials. According the AHRC appeal the victime “Ravishankar was taken to the Hatton Police Station by the police officers On 23 September 2016. When they arrived at the Police Station, Ravishankar was taken […]

(Mr. Chandila Padmakumara Gurusinghe (35), of Kiripedda, Babuwo Kanda, Karandeniya in Galle District was illegally arrested, tortured and humiliated by officers of the Karandeniya Police Station; File photo – AHRC) Basil Fernando The basic premise of Frank de Silva’s article ‘Proposed change to criminal law – now withdrawn’ which appeared in the Island newspaper recently […]

ALTERNATIVE REPORT TO THE COMMITTEE AGAINST TORTURE IN CONNECTION WITH THE 5TH PERIODIC REPORT OF SRI LANKA. The necessity for a new approach for Elimination of Torture,in developing countries. This report is submitted by Asian Legal Resource Centre, Hong Kong; Janasansadaya, Sri Lanka; Human Rights Office, Sri Lanka; Right to Life, Sri Lanka; Gampaha Citizen’s […]

(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 […]

( The proposed amendment could increase the risk of suspects being subject to torture, cruel and inhuman treatment as well as illegal arrest and detention) 10th October 2016, Colombo, Sri Lanka: The Centre for Policy Alternatives (CPA) is deeply concerned by a statement made by the Minister of Justice reported in the print media on […]

(A mother waiting for her disappeared son participating protest in Colombo, Aug 2016 ©s.deshapriya; in Vanni they are still facing military intimidation) by Shreen Saroor. Three examples of recent  intimidations On 25th August, a mother who claims her son was abducted by military police seven years ago was visited by military officers.  The officers told […]

BY Kishali Pinto Jayawaradena. It is unfortunate that a Bill purporting to amend Sri Lanka’s Code of Criminal Procedure Act made public this week takes away existing rights to suspects detained by the police through constitutional precedents. Torture is at the early stages This is in relation to a suspect’s right to consult a lawyer […]

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 […]

(A Sri Lankan policeman keeps watch at a demonstration in the capital, Colombo, on August 14, 2014.  © 2014 Getty Images)   Writing to the Ministers of Foreign Affairs and Justice the Asian Human Rights Commission says Appointment of Yasantha Kodagoda To Torture Committee of HRC-SL Inappropriate. In its letter AHRC says that ” Kodagoda’s […]

( Tamil Asylum seekers have been showing almost and strangely identical torture marks, allegedly inflicted by Sri Lankan police) Selected sections fro the Sri Lanka Govt. report submitted to the Convention against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or Punishment in October 2015. 9. The Government of Sri Lanka rejects the allegations that […]

(The diocese of Kandy is collecting signatures to petition the government.) Melani Manel Perera. Colombo (AsiaNews) – The diocese of Kandy, central Sri Lanka, has organised a petition to ask the government of President Maithripala Sirisena to stop the punitive methods used by police and guarantee justice to torture victims. Along with the Catholic Church, […]

(Documents detail how to enforce sleep deprivation, limit the caloric intake of food and the correct positions required for waterboarding) The CIA has declassified documents about the brutal interrogation techniques it used on terrorist suspects following the 9/11 attacks. Among the 50 guidelines, disclosed in response to a Freedom of Information request by the American Civil […]

(Renugarubans passport and torture marks on his body) Reports of the arbitrary detention and torture of a British Tamil citizen that arrived in Sri Lanka to visit his mother have now been confirmed. Mr Velauthapilai Renugaruban was beaten and forcefully arrested by two men who entered his family home in Jaffna on 2nd of June. […]

In a notably pungent observation at the close of her mission visit to Sri Lanka this month, the United Nations Special Rapporteur on the independence of judges and lawyers Mónica Pinto took pains to remind Sri Lanka’s Constitutional Council of one fact. This was that the Council, set up with great expectations under the 19th […]

by Taylor Isaac. [JURIST] A UN human rights experts on Saturday said that detainees in Sri Lanka are still experiencing torture as a tactic used by criminal and terrorism investigators seven years after the country’s civil war ended. The comments were made [AP report] after a nine-day trip to the country where Juan E. Méndez […]