Friday, November 01, 2013

Sri Lanka security forces 'raping and torturing' ahead of Commonwealth summit...

Sri Lanka’s security forces are still raping and torturing suspects despite the imminent arrival of David Cameron and 50 world leaders for a Commonwealth summit in the country, Human Rights Watch said on Thursday.

The Prime Minister and the Prince of Wales have confirmed they will both attend the gathering in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo, from Nov 15.

But Sri Lanka has 5,676 “outstanding cases” of disappearances - more than anywhere else in the world apart from Iraq. Although the civil war ended in 2009, President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has kept the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows anyone to be jailed without charge or trial for up to 18 months.

Human Rights Watch (HRW) has documented 10 cases of suspects being tortured or mistreated in detention since February. More disappearances have also taken place in recent months.

 One 30-year-old woman told The Daily Telegraph that she was abducted by men driving an unmarked white van in the northern city of Jaffna on Aug 12. She was bundled in to the vehicle, blindfolded and driven about 90 miles to the town of Vavuniya. Full story...

Related posts:
  1. Sri Lanka case study: the 28-year-old man beaten to death in prison...
  2. Scandal of Sri Lanka’s disappeared...
  3. Sri Lanka's white van disappearances...
  4. Dark days in Sri Lanka...
  5. Sri Lanka: A nightmare for Tamils...
  6. Thousands missing in Sri Lanka as people continue to disappear...
  7. Sri Lanka's sinister white van abductions on the rise...

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