Gotabhaya schemes ‘Guantanamo Bay’ in Galle

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 25 July 2012, 21:19 GMT]
Sri Lankan Defence Secretary and SL presidential sibling Gotabhaya Rajapaksa has instructed the SL police to transfer all Tamil political prisoners from the ‘declared’ prisons in the North and East to the notorious Boosa detention camp in the Galle town of the Southern Province, informed sources in Colombo said. The instruction has been given at a meeting convened by Gotabhaya Rajapaksa on 17 July. The Tamil Prisoners of War and political prisoners are going to be further isolated from the outside world. The families of ex-Tiger members and those held under alleged association with the LTTE have expressed fear on the deteriorating security situation of their family members in the custody of the occupying Sri Lankan forces.

The latest move comes at a time when the SL government has been engaged in a propaganda drive claiming that it was processing the release of Tamil prisoners who are not indicted.

After the US-tabled resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in March 2012, the Sri Lankan stepped up its propaganda saying it would set up special courts in Mannaar and Colombo and expedite legal proceedings against the Prisoners of War and political prisoners within three months time.

In the meantime, there are allegations of a number of undeclared detention camps where Tamil POWs and those who have been abducted by the occupying SL military, are detained without any registration with the ICRC or the IOM.

The Tamil National Alliance (TNA), which participated in six rounds of talks with the Rajapaksa government, was given a false promise that the SL government would release the details of Tamil prisoners. But, to date, no details have been released.

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