Mannar civilian detained in Colombo

[TamilNet, Friday, 17 February 2006, 16:23 GMT]
The Mannar Citizens Committee (MCC) has appealed to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to take steps to obtain the release of a Tamil civilian Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan of Pesalai who is being detained at the Terrorist Investigative Division (TID) of the Sri Lanka Police, sources said. The Police following a grenade attack at the army post located near Mannar hospital premises on January 16 took him into custody. An SLA soldier was killed in this incident.

MCC sent the memorandum to the Chairperson of the HRCSL following a complaint made by Ms. Kamal Donsiya, wife of Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan.

According to the memorandum, Mr. Kamalathasan on the day of the incident had gone to his mother's house located behind the Mannar hospital to celebrate his birthday. At that time an unidentified person had thrown a grenade at the army post killing a soldier. Through fear Mr.Jesuthasan Kamalathasan had scaled the wall of the hospital cycle park and ran for safety. But the SLA soldiers shot at him.

He was immediately admitted to the Mannar hospital from there he was transferred to Anuradhapura hospital in a critical condition. The police took him into custody thereafter and detained in Colombo TID office, sources said.