Jaffna elderly woman alleges SLA torture

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 03 July 2007, 21:28 GMT]
A sixty year old mother, living close to Jaffna campus, complained Tuesday to the Jaffna Human Rights Commission (HRC)that she was tortured by Sri Lanka Army (SLA) troopers who forcibly entered her house at Maariyamman Koayilady in Thirunelveali Tuesday around 5:00 a.m., civil sources in Jaffna said. The complaint was also filed with the Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) and International Committee of Red Cross (ICRC) offices in Jaffna.

The SLA troopers tortured five other young women relatives, including her daughter, demanding information about a youth, the mother said.

The complainant, Ms.Kathiravelu Pushparanee, 60, who sought protection from the HRC, said that the SLA troopers confiscated National Identity Cards of the five women and ordered them to report at Oorezhu SLA camp Tuesday.

The SLMM office when approached to verify the complaint declined to comment on the incident.

More than 23 cases of alleged torture by SLA troopers and police personnel have been made to Jaffna HRC office in June 2007 alone, independent sources in Jaffna said.

The HRC Jaffna declined to confirm the statistics.

The number of civilians subjected to torture by the SLA and police is escalating in Jaffna peninsula and the majority of the victims desist from complaining to authorities due to fear of reprisals by the SLA, civil sources said.

The SLA and the police, torture those arrested in the cordon and search operations, during the night, issuing warnings and death threats, before the victims are released.

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