Slain parliamentarian Maheswaran's death anniversary to be held

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 03:59 GMT]
The first death anniversary of Mr.T.Maheswaran, Colombo district parliamentarian, is to be held on December 21 Sunday at Bambalapitya Kathireasan Hall. He was shot dead while attending prayer in Colombo Ponnambalavaaneswarar Kovil on January 1st this year.
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3 police officers arrested for aiding LTTE cadres in Colombo

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 December 2008, 02:55 GMT]
A Sri Lanka Police Inspector of special crime branch of the Western Province with two constables were taken into custody by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) for allegedly helping LTTE cadres in Colombo, and extorting money from civilians in Wellawatte and Bloemendhal area in Colombo, police spokesperson Ranjit Gunasekara said. The breakthrough came following the interrogation of three Tamil youths earlier arrested in cordon and search operations, according to police.
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4 STF commandos killed in Ampaa'rai - LTTE

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 08:03 GMT]
Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) official Nilavan in Ampaa'rai on Sunday said four Sri Lankan Special Task Force (STF) commandos were killed in mine explosions set up by the Tiger fighters in the morning while the STF commandos were engaged in a big search operation in Kagnchikudichchaa'ru jungle area.
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Kompan Chaayntha Ku'lam

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:42 GMT]
The tank where a tusker fell dead
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Fein: Genocide charges against Sri Lanka officials ready

[TamilNet, Sunday, 14 December 2008, 06:36 GMT]
Bruce Fein, a former U.S. Deputy Associate Attorney General and currently Counsel for a U.S. Tamil Group said in an interview this week that a 400+ page model indictment charging Sri Lanka officials for genocide against Tamils will be ready to be submitted to the U.S. Justice Department first week of January. He added that the document describes the motivational context, catalogues crimes, and constructs legal arguments establishing culpability of a U.S. citizen and a U.S. greencard holder for the crime of genocide against Tamils in Sri Lanka under the U.S. Genocide Accountability Act (18 U.S.C. 1091).
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Grenade attack on Vaazhaichcheanai TMVP local council member

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 23:28 GMT]
Unidentified persons lobbed a hand grenade Saturday around 7:15 p.m on the house of Thamotharam Jeevathas, Tamil Makkal Viduthalai Pulikal (TMVP) member of Vaazhaichcheanai Piratheasa Chapai (Pradeshiya Sabah), in Ea'raavoor police division in Batticaloa district. No one was hurt but the front portion of the house was damaged, sources in Batticaloa said.
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Tamil woman shot dead in Batticaloa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 23:26 GMT]
Unidentified armed men arriving on motorcycles opened fire on a family Saturday around 7:30 p.m in a house in Aarayampathi area in Kaaththaankudi police division, killing a woman and seriously injuring her husband and daughter.
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Elderly woman knifed to death in Vavuniyaa

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 22:16 GMT]
An elderly Tamil woman was knifed to death while in her house on Thursday night by unidentified men. This killing took place at Chekkadippulavu in Chelva Nakar in Vavuniyaa.
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Tamil woman detainee dies in Anurathapura prison

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 22:10 GMT]
A 63-year-old retired Tamil woman teacher died Thursday in the Anuradhapura prison while being detained under Emergency Regulation. The victim, Mrs. Atputham Kulanthaivel, fell ill and passed away on Thursday, Police said.
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Sri Lankan Police cordons off Munneasvaram devotees, detains two

[TamilNet, Saturday, 13 December 2008, 20:42 GMT]
Sri Lankan Police cordoned off Munneasvaram Sivan temple area in Chilaapam (Chilaw) division Friday, subjecting hundreds of devotees who were present in the temple and its environs Friday morning to attend Kaarthikai Theepam festival in the evening. Two devotees were detained after the operation that lasted for four hours from 6:00 a.m. till 10:00 a.m. .
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RSF condemns Colombo's censorship of BBC, Sunday Leader

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2008, 12:50 GMT]
Paris-based media watchdog, Reporters sans frontières (RSF), in a press release issued Friday, condemned Sri Lanka's jamming of BBC World Service and blocking Sunday Leader from referring to Sri Lanka's Defense Secretary, Gotabhaya Rajapakse. "We are worried by the increase in direct and indirect censorship in Sri Lanka," Reporters Without Borders said. "Coming after a broadcast media bill reintroducing news censorship, the selective blocking of BBC and Sunday Leader reports is disturbing. The authorities must accept the free flow of news even when it contradicts what officials are saying and irritates certain politicians," the press release added.
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White van gunmen abduct Tamil family man in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2008, 06:57 GMT]
Unidentified armed men in a white van abducted Tuesday a Tamil family man in Ear’aavoor police division in Batticalaoa district as he was returning home after work, in Aa’rumukaththaan Kudiyiruppu area, according to the complaint lodged by his wife with Ea’raavoor police.
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18 Tamils detained by Thirukkoayil police

[TamilNet, Friday, 12 December 2008, 06:52 GMT]
Special Task Force (STF) commandos arrested Thursday eighteen Tamils including two women in a cordon and search conducted in the Tamil area in Thirukkoayil police division in Ampaa’rai district. All arrestees are being detained in Thirukkoayil police station, according to complaints made by their relatives to Ampaa’rai district Tamil National Alliance (TNA) parliamentarian K. Pathmanathan.
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Tamil student, teacher arrested in Aalangkea'ni, Trincomalee

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 19:28 GMT]
A Tamil student sitting for the GCE Ordinary Level examination and a Tamil teacher assigned for examination duty in an examination centre located in Aalangkea'ni, a traditional Tamil village in Ki'n'niyaa DS division in Trincomalee district, were arrested by the police on December 8 and being detained in Trincomalee police station for interrogation, civil sources said.
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Masked gunmen rob Tamil trader in Ea’raavoor

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 17:02 GMT]
Unidentified armed men wearing masks robbed at gunpoint a Tamil trader Thursday around 4:30 a.m. in his shop at Ku'richchi 4, Ea’raavoor in Batticalaoa district. The robbers entering the house, located 75 meters from Ea’raavoor police station, had bound the trader and made off with his wife’s marriage chain and 11,000 rupees in hard cash, according to complaint made with Ea’raavoor police.
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SLA death toll hits 120, army pushed back to Malaiyaa'lapuram - LTTE

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 16:18 GMT]
The Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) officials told TamilNet correspondent in Vanni Thursday that the two-pronged SLA offensive on Ki'inochchi was pushed back Wednesday after heavy fighting in Puthumu'rippu in the west of Ki'linochchi and A'riviyal Nakar in the south. The final death toll of the SLA in both the fronts, according to the LTTE claim, was 120 killed in action and more than 280 wounded. Photographs given by the LTTE officials also indicate that there were some young recruits of the SLA among the dead. Meanwhile, the SLA, which admitted heavy fighting, has put the casualties at 20 SLA and 27 LTTE combatants as killed in the latest fighting.
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Politics of Human Rights in the United Nations

[TamilNet, Thursday, 11 December 2008, 12:11 GMT]
Tracing the historical contributions of the Commission on Human Rights (CHR), including the publishing of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), in the United Nations, Kirubaharan, general secretary of the France-based NGO, Tamil Centre for Human Rights, in a feature appearing in this week’s edition of Colombo weekly, the Morning Leader, says, “… the powerful states use their political influence and support to avoid the examination of human rights violations in their countries, and also to protect the countries which have bilateral links with them. Some states even insist that they are exempt from UN scrutiny because what takes place in their countries is an "internal affair."
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90 SLA killed in two fronts of Ki'linochchi - LTTE

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 15:12 GMT]
More than 60 SLA soldiers were killed and 12 SLA bodies recovered by the Liberation Tigers of Tamileelam (LTTE) defensive units, 5 km west of Ki'linochchi Wednesday after defeating the SLA formations that attempted to advance from Oottuppu'lam to Puthumu'rippu, Tiger officials said. At the same time, a heavy fighting broke out at A'riviyal Nakar, south of Ki'linochchi, where 29 SLA soldiers were killed in the clashes. The Tigers have seized four AK-LMGs, two PK-LMGs and eleven T-56 assault rifles with ammunitions in the clearing mission at Puthumu'rippu Wednesday afternoon.
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Condoleeza Rice spotlights Rights violations in Sri Lanka

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 12:15 GMT]
United States Secretary of State, Condoleeza Rice, Wednesday, awarded the 2008 Human Rights and Democracy Achievement Award to Michael De Tar, the chief of the Political Section of our Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, for engaging "constructively with Sri Lanka while underscoring our [U.S.'s] human rights," and for proposing the roadmap adopted by the Sri Lankan Government "to induce a paramilitary aligned with the government to begin to release its child soldiers [in the east]." The situation in the East, however, has rapidly deterioted recently with Human Rights Watch accusing the Colombo-backed paramilitaries in the east for thirty murders and thirty abductions during September and October.
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State of Human Rights in Sri Lanka on 60th anniversary of UDHR

[TamilNet, Wednesday, 10 December 2008, 08:04 GMT]
Although it is sixty years since 'Ceylon' as the Island was then known gained independence from Britain, and sixty years since the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) was adopted by the United Nations, Tamils of Sri Lanka are yet to enjoy the benefits of UDHR. According to the Annual Report for 2007 of the Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID), more than 5000 cases of disappearances are pending without clarification from the Sri Lankan Government. Data shows that there are more extra-judicial killings in the East now after the Government’s celebrated 'liberation of the East'.
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