Tamil political prisoners on hunger strike face death threats inside SL prisons

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 15 December 2015, 20:21 GMT]
The families of Tamil political prisoners expressed fear on Tuesday that the prison authorities of occupying Sri Lanka have started to deploy harsh methods against their detained kith and kin inside the jails in South to contain their struggle. A violent group of criminal Sinhala prisoners were deployed at the same room of the prison hospital, where 36-year-old Jeneevan Sivarasa was warded at the New Magazine prison. The Sinhala prisoners harassed Mr Sivarasa with racist and death threats, the families of the Tamil prisoners told TamilNet. Another Tamil political prisoner, 32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, was also subjected to similar harassments. The two Tamil prisoners are continuing their hunger strike amidst deteriorating health conditions.

Mr Sivarasa was transferred to his cell from the prison hospital Monday evening.

The SL prison authorities were now trying to transfer the Tamil prisoners on hunger strike away from the New Magazine jail to contain their struggle from inspiring others, informed rights activists said.

Earlier, Jeneevan Sivarasa, who began his hunger strike in Jaffna, was transferred back to New Magazine prison after he exposed that his case had been indefinitely postponed during the past 6 years as a Sinhala police officer, who fabricated confessions against him, was avoiding to attend the SL High Court in Jaffna.

The SL police was blaming that Sivarasa was involved in a plot to assassinate Maithiripala Sirisena back in 2006 during the times of the war when Mr Sirisena was a minister in Mahinda Rajapaksa's cabinet.

The other prisoner, Komahan Murugiah, who was a councillor at the EPDP run Jaffna Municipality earlier, was blamed of plotting to assassinate Douglas Devananda, another SL minister in 2010. Mr Devananda has openly appealed for the release of the prisoner Komakan. SL President Maithiripala Sirisena, who talks about ‘reconciliation’ remains silent on the case of Jeneevan Sivarasa.

In the meantime, ruling UNP's appointed national list parliamentarian and minister of ‘Prison Reforms’, Mr D.M. Swaminathan, has been attempting to brush away criticisms levelled against the prison authorities. The SL minister, a Colombo-based Tamil, was telling the Tamils it was the SL Attorney General's Department that was causing complexities in addressing the concerns of the Tamil prisoners.

The political prisoners remain firm in continuing their hunger strike, which has exposed the problems of Colombo-based ‘Sri Lankan’ political outlook, the talk of so-called reconciliation, and the judicial system of genocidal unitary state operating against Eezham Tamils.

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