SLA systematically terrorises female detainees

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 March 2010, 21:45 GMT]
Torture of female detainees in special camps of the Sri Lankan Army in Vavuniyaa continues to the extent of making many of the detainees insane, reports reaching from Vavuniyaa said. The torture is mainly carried out by female soldiers of the SLA, according to information provided by reliable civil society sources, which claim that they have hard evidence to prove it if there is any credible international investigation.
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Sri Lanka soldiers remanded over rape of 9-year old Tamil girl

[TamilNet, Saturday, 27 February 2010, 01:55 GMT]
Six Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers were taken into custody for allegedly molesting a nine-year-old Tamil girl at Ki'raan Vaazhaichcheani in the eastern Batticaloa district, sources in Batticaloa said. The victim identified one of the perpetrators during an identification parade held in Batticaloa Magistrate Court. Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported that the soldiers of the Digiliwatiya camp had threatened the protesting villagers, and the body of one protester was recovered in a pond near the SLA camp after the protests.
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GTF launch well attended by British politicians

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 February 2010, 03:13 GMT]
British Foreign Secretary David Milliband, Conservative Shadow Foreign Secretary William Hague and Liberal Democrats Shadow Foreign Secretary Ed Davey all addressed the Global Tamil Forum’s inaugural meeting in London on Wednesday, 24 February. The Global Tamil Forum (GTF) launch saw delegates from 14 countries gather in the UK House of Commons to be addressed by speakers from across the political spectrum, including parliamentarians, councilors and prospective parliamentary candidates. Some delegates were also invited in for a private meeting with Prime Minister Gordon Brown.
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SLA harrasses former Jaffna parliamentarian

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 23 February 2010, 20:16 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers Tuesday evening harassed former Member of Parliament from Jaffna Selvarajah Kajendren and a group of civilians who were discussing with him near a temple in Thirunelveali, media circles in Jaffna said.
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Pasadena firm assists in Alston's execution video analysis

[TamilNet, Sunday, 21 February 2010, 20:59 GMT]
Evidence from reputable and established forensic firms on the authenticity of the Channel-4 execution video continues to accumulate, and the latest is a Pasadena, California, forensic firm which disclosed Friday that one of the firm's technical representative, Jeff Spivak, assisted Professor Philip Alston, UN Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions, in analyzing the video for authenticty. The firm claimed that "[i]n part, due to the image processing results performed with the Cognitech Video Investigator software, UN Rapporteur Professor Phillip Alston, has requested a full scale investigation into the incident," indicating a positive conclusion that video was authentic.
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49 women detainees arrested in Vavuniyaa camps

[TamilNet, Saturday, 20 February 2010, 01:57 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arriving in vehicles 14 February took away 49 women from the SLA detainment camps in Valayamaa’ru, Cheddiku’lam and Pampaimadu in Vavuniyaa to Boosa camp, fellow detainees in the camps said. But camp authorities claimed that the women were arrested by Vavuniyaa Terrorism Investigation Department (TID).
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Perception on ex-LTTE members must be revised: former Aussie diplomat

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 10:55 GMT]
Australian authorities must cease bowing to influence and pressure from the Sri Lankan Government in its handling of asylum seekers said former Australian diplomat Bruce Haigh in a letter to the editor appearing in the Australian Financial Review and Canberra Times. Condemning the Rajapaksa administrations slaughter of “anywhere between 10-40,000 civilians”, its censoring of the media and rapid descent into dictatorship, Haigh described the Sri Lanka Government “corrupt” and “tarnished”, before urging a review on the assessment of LTTE members who were merely ”soldiers on one side in a particularly brutal and nasty civil war, a war in which both sides employed terrorism as a weapon” and who do not represent a security threat to Australia as stated by intelligence organisations.
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“Rajapaske is the cause, not the solution”: Sydney Morning Herald

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 17 February 2010, 02:05 GMT]
The ushering of the perceived “post-war” era in Sri Lanka, bridled with hopes of prosperity blindly predicated by global powers has instead revealed the reality of a “dictatorship [that] must be watched with alarm by the democratic world” stated the Sydney Morning Herald in an editorial piece on Friday. Citing the arrest of presidential candidate Sarath Fonseka, described as “a textbook case in abuse of incumbency”, the temporary imprisonment of election commissioner Dayanada Dissanayake and continued intimidation of journalists, the editorial warned of a “new rebellion, this time among the Sinhalese majority on the lines of previous Marxist insurgencies”. The paper also urged Canberra to re-evaluate its co-operation with Sri Lankan authorities in stemming in the tide of Tamil refugees seeking asylum in Australia, describing President Rajapakse as “the cause, not the solution”.
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SLA arrests TNA supporters in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers arrested Tuesday morning supporters of Tamil National Alliance (TNA) distributing handbills thanking the people of Jaffna peninsula for casting their votes in large numbers to Sarath Fonseka in the recent presidential election, rejecting President Mahinda Rajapakse, on TNA’s request, sources in Jaffna said. This arrest is seen as a continuation of the attacks on TNA supporters and their properties who openly campaigned for Sarath Fonseka, the sources added.
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SLA tightens fishing restrictions in Jaffna peninsula

[TamilNet, Monday, 08 February 2010, 03:20 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) which had imposed restrictions on fishing in Jaffna peninsula since its occupation for the last fourteen years is now tightening the restrictions, subjecting the peninsula fishermen to additional harassment, fisheries societies sources in Jaffna said. SLA compels the fishermen to renew their ‘fishing pass’ often while keeping many fishing jetties in several coastal villages closed to them, the sources further complained.
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SL Independence Day observed in low key in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Friday, 05 February 2010, 02:22 GMT]
Sri Lanka Armed Forces occupying Jaffna peninsula which had forced its people to observe "Independence Day" in the past did not engage in any such activity on Thursday, sources in Jaffna said. Less than ten employees took part in the event in Jaffna Secretariat where Jaffna District Government Agent (GA) hoisted the National Flag, the sources added. Meanwhile, 34 persons including 3 Sinhalese serving prison sentence for minor offences were freed on the day.
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Sri Lanka experts silent, Wijesinha oblivious to forensic evidence

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 02 February 2010, 04:31 GMT]
Sri Lanka's video experts appear unable or unwilling to rebut the body of evidence presented at the Dublin tribunal, UN Rapporteur on Extra-judicial Executions Philip Alston's report, and findings from other independent forensic analysts that all ruled as flawed the analyses by the Sri Lanka experts of the video broadcast on Channel 4 showing Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers summarily executing Tamil prisoners, stripped naked and hands tied behind their backs. Rajiva Wijesinha, permanent secretary to the Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights, despite mounting evidence to the contrary, continues to advance his efforts to exculpate Colombo and the perpertrators from charges of war crimes by arguing that the video is fake, a spokesperson for US-based pressure group Tamils Against Genocide (TAG) said.
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SLA refuses permission to residents to enter HSZs in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 01 February 2010, 03:27 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers did not allow the people evicted from SLA High Security Zones (HSZs) in Jaffna peninsula to enter the HSZs in Thellippazhai and Jaffna town when they went to see their lands and houses Sunday. Prior to the presidential election the government had promised them resettlement in the HSZs and SLA soldiers had allowed them to go and see their properties during day time but now they had been denied permission even to enter the HSZs, sources in Jaffna said.
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EPDP supporters set fire to SLTB bus in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 January 2010, 10:33 GMT]
Eelam People’s Democracy Party (EPDP) supporters set fire to a Sri Lanka Transport Board (SLTB) bus Saturday morning in a shutdown protest demanding Minister Douglas Devananda not to resign his post, sources in Jaffna said. Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers forced open the few shops in Jaffna town which had been closed in fear of EPDP supporters who had called for the shutdown protest, the sources added. Minister Douglas Devananda, the leader of EPDP, had told his supporters that he was going to resign his minister post for being the reason for Mahinda Rajapakse’s defeat in Jaffna peninsula in the presidential election, the sources added. This is but a political stunt in view of the parliamentary general election expected in April or May, political observers in Jaffna said.
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SLA, SLN restrictions in Jaffna peninsula imposed again

[TamilNet, Saturday, 30 January 2010, 04:42 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) and Sri Lanka Navy (SLN) which had relaxed their various restrictions in Jaffna peninsula prior to president election have begun to impose them again actively, sources in Jaffna said. These restrictions include the checking of passengers travelling within the peninsula and to the islets of Jaffna besides access to their places in the SLA High Security Zones (HSZs), they said. People of Ezhuthumadduvaa’l in Thenmaraadchi who were told by Minister Douglas Devananda and SLA officials that they would be permitted to resettle in their places immediately after the presidential election were turned back when they tried to go to their homes Friday.
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SL forces surround Fonseka's hotel

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 27 January 2010, 05:17 GMT]
Heavily armed Sri Lankan forces have surrounded Wednesday Cinnamon Lake hotel in Colombo, where opposition presidential candidate and former Sri Lanka Army General (retd) Sarath Fonseka was residing with opposition leader Ranil Wickramasinghe and JVP leader Somawanse Amarasinghe. Sarath Fonseka, who is trailing in the presidential contest against his former Commander-in-Chief Mahinda Rajapaksa was scheduled to hold a press conference Wednesday morning, but journalists were not allowed to reach the hotel and were waiting at Sri Sittampalam Gardiner Mawatte. In the meantime, Sri Lankan military spokesman Udaya Nanayakkara has alleged that Sarath Fonseka was harbouring SLA deserters inside the hotel. Military has also been deployed around media outlets in Colombo.
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Ballot boxes dispatched to polling booths in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Monday, 25 January 2010, 17:40 GMT]
Ballot boxes for the Tuesday presidential election are being sent with police and Sri Lanka Army (SLA) escorts from the District Secretariats in Jaffna and Vavuniyaa in the presence of election officers to the polling booths from Monday morning. Meanwhile, government has declared Wednesday, the day following presidential election day, as public holiday and countrywide curfew is expected to be imposed on Thursday, according to instructions given to police authorities, sources in Jaffna said.
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SLA harass relatives, friends visiting resettled IDPs in Ki’linochchi

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 2010, 05:41 GMT]
Sri Lanka Army (SLA) soldiers restrict and harass the relatives and friends of the small number of Vanni Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) allowed to resettle in Ki’linochchi, the IDPs said. SLA soldiers inspect the National Identity Cards of the relatives and friends of the IDPs visiting them besides registering their particulars. Meanwhile, the soldiers subject the IDPs to severe interrogation after the visitors had left and these harassments have made the IDPs to request their relatives and friends not to visit them.
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HRW calls for international investigations into war crimes

[TamilNet, Friday, 22 January 2010, 04:57 GMT]
Noting that the "verbal acrobatics" of Sri Lankan officials in an attempt to "dismiss the shocking mobile phone video...showing Sri Lanka soldiers summarily executing naked and bound [Tamil] captives" evokes memories of Orwell's 1984, Peter Bouckaert, Human Rights Watch's emergencies director and an expert in humanitarian crises, in the Thursday edition of Guardian, warns that Sri Lankan officials cannot hide the reality of what happened during this brutal conflict and its continuing impact on Sri Lankan society, and that Sri Lanka's aggressive denial of its crimes only results in escalation of lost credibililty. HRW urges Ban Ki-moon to establish "an independent international investigation to establish the truth of what happened in Sri Lanka, an essential step toward accountability for the serious crimes committed there."
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SL state media turned into propaganda outlets for Rajapaksa: RSF

[TamilNet, Thursday, 21 January 2010, 13:49 GMT]
Reporters Without Borders, on Thursday said it had established that 98.5 per cent of the news and current affairs air-time on Sri Lankan state-owned TV stations Rupavahini and ITN on 18 and 19 January was given over to the Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa and his supporters. “The TV propaganda is deafening and the figures we are releasing today are worthy of the Burmese or North Korean regimes," the press freedom organisation said. Control of the state media has become crucial to the election campaign. The Commissioner of Elections has issued several reminders about the rules requiring balanced coverage and tried to introduce a Competent Authority to monitor the TV stations, but the president’s office resisted. The Sri Lankan supreme court’s ruling has also been ignored, the RSF said.
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