1200 Tamils prisoners held in Welikade without inquiry

[TamilNet, Monday, 28 July 2008, 20:51 GMT]
The Sri Lanka's Supreme Court was told when the Fundamental Rights violation petition filed the Ceylon Workers Congress (CWC) was taken up for further inquiry Monday that about one thousand two hundred Tamil civilians are still being detained in Welikada prison without any inquiry. The counsel for the petitioner begged the court to take steps to release these Tamils, legal sources said.

The Chief Justice Sarath Silva, presiding over a three-member bench directed the Attorney General to appoint a special committee comprising a State Counsel and a police officer to expedite the inquiry against them, legal sources said.

The CWC has filed the FR petition against the indiscriminate arrest of Tamil residents of Colombo and suburbs without any reason.

The petitioner has cited the Defense Secretary, Inspector General of Police and several police officers as respondents.