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Protest by prisoners’ rights group, victims’ families

24 Jun 2021

  • To demand repeal of PTA

BY Pamodi Waravita and Ruwan Laknath Jayakody   The Committee for Protecting the Rights of Prisoners (CPRP) along with the relatives of victims of custodial torture are to conduct a satyagraha protest tomorrow (26) to mark the “United Nations International Day in Support of Victims of Torture” which falls on 26 June. The satyagraha will commence at 11 a.m. in front of the Welikada Prison Headquarters and will seek the repeal of oppressive laws, an end to torture by the Police and the Prisons Department, and justice for victims. According to CPRP Chairman Attorney-at-Law Senaka Perera, who spoke to The Morning, the said protest is to build a people’s movement against torture. At the protest, the CPRP and relatives including family members of victims of torture; cruel, inhuman, degrading treatment; and punishment, intend to make several demands from the Government and the relevant authorities. Chief among these demands will be to repeal the Prevention of Terrorism (Temporary Provisions) Act, No. 48 of 1979 (PTA) and other such oppressive laws, to put an end to torture by the Police and such acts taking place within prisons, and for justice to be meted out to victims of crimes. “Recent times saw the deaths of a number of underworld figures while in police custody. Their relatives will also be joining the protest. The mother of an underworld figure who is currently in prison, ‘Podi Lassi’, will also be attending. They are the kind of prisoners who are at risk of being tortured. Another woman whose husband has been a prisoner for 15 years under the PTA will be joining the protest as well,” said Perera. Speaking to The Morning, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) Parliamentarian Shanakiyan Rajaputhiran Rasamanickam stressed the need for a mechanism in the country to prevent torture by the State, adding that raising awareness about the torture of Tamil political prisoners automatically brands a person as an agent of the “Tamil diaspora”. “Torture has been used by various Governments since the 1970s. The father of poet Ahnaf Jazeem, who is currently being detained under the PTA, has raised concerns about his son being chained to a table for two months. Sri Lankans are used to the idea of torture since their very formative years. They are taught about the ‘dandu kanda’ (an ancient implement of torture) and other forms of torture used during the days of the kings. There are so many victims of torture who have left Sri Lanka but are now talking about it,” said Rasamanickam. Meanwhile, the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has requested the Inspector General of Police (IGP) for a report on the investigations carried out into the recent deaths of Mabulage Dineth Melan Mabula alias “Urujuwa” and Dharmakeerthi Tharaka Perera Wijesekera alias “Kosgoda Tharaka” while in police custody. On 8 June, the HRCSL again wrote to the IGP about the deaths of Chandran Vidushan and M. Ali while in police custody in Batticaloa and Panadura, respectively. A HRCSL report published in 2020 shows that “violence in police custody was found to be an inherent element of the investigation process, whereby torture is inflicted to extract information, confessions, and evidence from detainees”. During the course of the study, the HRCSL had received 921 complaints in total from inmates, of which 116 had specifically been about “torture, or cruel, inhuman, or degrading treatment, or punishment perpetrated in prisons”.


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