Peaceful protests have been held in Sri Lanka’s north and east for the release of 13 Tamil prioners on a continuous hunger strike.
13 Tamil prisoners held under the condemned Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) are on the 11th day of their fast in the Colombo Magazine Prison.
Following a visit to the prison on the ninth day, opposition MP Mano Ganesan told journalists that one prisoner was taken to hospital as his condition was critical.
A mother who had come all the way from the north to visit her brother under special permission on Prisoners Justice Day was in tears.
“My brother has been in the prison for 27 years as a political prisoner and three generations have been waiting for his arrival” she told journalists in front of the Colombo Magazine prison, On Friday, religious leaders, Tamil politicians and the general public held a token solidarity fast in the eastern town of Batticaloa.
“The government has not taken any action to release them evven when the human rights commission is in session,” said opposition MP Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam joining the one day fast at the Gandhi stadium.
The UN Human Rights Commission currently meeting in Geneva for its 51st session.
Sri Lankan Government has informed the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR) that it plans to table a new Counter-Terrorism Act to replace the PTA.
Presenting a special report on Sri Lanka to the assembly, the High Commissioner requested the government to “ensure the new legislation to the Prevention of Terrorism Act and proposed laws on digital security fully complies with Sri Lanka’s international law obligations”.
On the first day of the 51st session of Human Rights Council relatives in Jaffna had a days hunger strike requesting the Northern Province governer’s intervention for the release of their loved ones.
According to journalists in Jaffna the relatives handed over a petition with their demands to an officer attached to the Governor’s office, S. Udayasivam, U. Umandusan, M.Parthiban, L.Imbaraj, Y.Robinson, R.Sayandan, P.naguleswaran,S.Sudaharan ,U.Satheeskumar, S.Saseedan, R.Vivekanandan, Y. Dadli and L. Ajanthan are the Tamils who launched the hunger strike in prison, according to Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka (JDS).
Earlier Tamil National Peoples Front MP Selvaraja Gajendran told parliament that two of the prisoners on the hunger strike arrested in 2019-2020, were just eight year olds during the war and has no understanding as to what exactly has happened during war.
