Returnee tortured

AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL says in an early August report that Jaffna resident Thambirajah Kamalathasan was tortured following his arrest on 15 July. Chilli powder was rubbed into his eyes and his genitals were squeezed. Asylum-seeker Kamalathasan was returned from Senegal in February along with 189 others and arrested on arrival in Colombo. He was released on bail and after visiting Jaffna, returned to the capital in mid-July for the court case, when he was detained and tortured. Amnesty further says that in Colombo, large numbers of Tamils are regularly arrested in cordon and search operations. Young Tamil men originally from the north-east suspected of LTTE links are especially at risk of being tortured. Although Sri Lanka acceded to the Convention against Torture in 1994, broad powers of arrest and detention given to the security forces by the current security legislation contribute to human rights violations, including torture. In addition, torture is facilitated by widespread impunity of perpetrators, as no one has been charged for torture despite a number of judicial decisions. In a fundamental rights case in July, the Supreme Court ordered the Sri Lankan state to pay Rs 100,000 as compensation to Kumaru Selvaratnam who suffered severe torture at the hands of the security forces.

Asylum-seekers returned from other countries remain at risk. Manickam Rajan, returned from the Netherlands in February was arrested for the second time on 14 July at Queens Lodge in Pettah suburb and later released. Another Netherlands returnee E Jeyavel was arrested for the second time on 15 July by the Security Operations Unit at his lodge in Kollupitiya suburb. Mr Jeyavel is currently being held at the Peliyagoda police station.

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