76 Tamil Political Prisoners

by Tamil Centre for Human Rights; Paris, February 24, 2004

Ref :
B07F/PR/2004
24 February 2004

There are still 76 Tamil political prisoners and detainees

Arrest and detention are legal in any judicial system. But when there is an arrest without reason and arbitrary detention, obviously the detention goes against international standards. In some cases arbitrary arrests end up in involuntary disappearances. If this is the case, it earns media highlighting and human rights activists take up the issue. Then it is a problem for the authority which orders the arbitrary arrests and detentions.

Nowadays there are governments around the world that have created special laws, acts, regulations, etc as temporary measures, under the pretext of dealing with extraordinary security situations, to justify arbitrary arrests and detentions without trial. In countries like Sri Lanka these temporary measures become permanent and the special laws never comply with international standards. The International Covenant on Civil and Political rights (ICCPR) Part III, Article 9 – Paragraph 1 states that “No one shall be subjected to arbitrary arrest or detention.”

Unfortunately countries which are abusing power, take advantage of the ICCPR. In the above mentioned paragraph it is also stated that, “No one shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in accordance with such procedure as are established by law.” This is where the special laws, acts and regulations are used to “justify” the arrests, but does not apply in case of arbitrary arrests. It is worth noting that under its obligations as party to the ICCPR, the state is obliged to inform the UN Human Rights Committee of changes to the law, amendments and so on in this area.

Sri Lanka has been a party to the ICCPR since 1980. The Sri Lanka parliament passed draconian temporary provisions known as the Prevention of Terrorism Act – (PTA) on 20 July 1979, which has been in force continuously over 25 years, until the present day. During 20 years of bloody war in the North East, thousands of Tamil youths have been arbitrarily arrested and detained in various prisons and police stations.

The Act allows confessions made under torture to be accepted as evidence against those arrested, and thus encourages torture to be carried out with impunity. Almost every Tamil arrested is assaulted, tortured and a self-incriminating statement is extracted from him/her. Victims of these arrests and detentions are systematically forced to sign statements written in Sinhala, a language they do not understand.

In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU), signed on 22 February 2002, between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), under Article 2.12 entitled ‘Measures to restore normalcy,’ “arrests under PTA shall not take place.”

Since the MoU was signed, many Tamil youths who were arrested under the PTA, have been released. They have not received any compensation.

There are 58 male and female Tamil detainees, (list attached below) arrested since 1995, who are still in detention. They have been charged with various offences but their trials are proceeding at a snail’s speed. According to their lawyers most of the charges are fabricated.

There are also 18 Tamil political prisoners, arrested since 1993 and charged with various accusations who have received sentences ranging from 5 to 70 years imprisonment, life sentence and death sentence.

Since July 1979 all arrests of Tamil youths were made under the draconian PTA. The PTA in Sri Lanka has been highly criticised by many International NGOs as well as by UN special rapporteurs. For many years, NGOs have condemned the PTA in Sri Lanka, in all the UN Human rights forums including the Commission and Sub-Commission on Human Rights.

We appeal to the Government of Sri Lanka to release immediately the 58 Tamil detainees as well as 18 Tamil political prisoners who were arbitrarily arrested, detained and charged under the draconian PTA which does not meet international standards.

We also appeal to the UN Working Group on Arbitrary detention to raise their concerns regarding these political prisoners and detainees in Sri Lanka.

Please send appeals to:

The Chairperson
Petitions Team
Working Group on Arbitrary Detention
Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights
Palais Wilson
United Nations
1211 Geneva 10,
Switzerland

Tel : 00-41-22-9170000
Fax : 00-41-22-9179022
Email : 

TCHR HEAD OFFICE:

Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR/CTDH
9, rue des Peupliers – 95140 Garge les Gonesse – FRANCE

Contact person : S. V. Kirubaharan – General Secretary

Fax: + 33 1 40 38 28 74 – Email:  / 

TCHR-UK

Tamil Centre for Human Rights – TCHR/CTDH
PO Box 182, Manchester M16 8ED, UNITED KINGDOM

Contact person : Deirdre McConnell – Director International Programme

Fax: + 44 161 860 4609 – Email:  / 

TCHR-NETHERLANDS

Tamil Centrum voor Mensenrechten- TCHR
Steelingmolen 43
1703 TE Heerhugowaard, THE NETHERLANDS

Contact person : Sinniah Indiran

Fax : + 31 – 72 – 57 15 801 Email : t

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Political prisoners in detention

1 Joseph Christi Fernando

2 Ramasamy Francis Ranjan

3 Antony Edward Royrow

4 Jesuthasan Eric Saundaranayagam

5 Antonypillai Robert Maxilan

6 Robert Thirumagal

7 Savareemuthu Loganathan

8 Yogarajah Aarokiyarasa

9 Sinnappu Selvarasa

10 Suppiah Sritharan

11 Thangarasa Silvaster Antony

12 Sinnathamby Krishnakumar

13 Rasathurai Piratheepan

14 Gunathas Ajithkumar

15 Arumugam Kanagaratnam

16 V. Lucas Fernando

17 Muthurasa Pirapaharan

18 Kanagarasa Pirapaharan

19 Ramaiyah Raveenthiran

20 Subramaniam Jeyabalakrishnan

21 Krishnan Selvaranjan

22 Sinnathamby Pathmanathan

23 Panchalingam Paranetharan

24 Somasundaram Sivaneswaran

25 Vaithylingam Pathmanathan

26 Masilamani Krishnapillai

27 Ananthanathan Antonythas

28 Nadesan Selvarasa

29 Chanthirakumar Robert Pushparajah

30 Thandavan Rasalingam

31 John Peter Edman Mariaseelan

32 Sakthyvel Ilangeswaran

33 Biramashree C.I. Ragupathy Sarma

34 R. S. Vasanthy Sarma (Ragupathy)

35 Kanpathy Thanikasalam

36 Selvanayagam Akilan

37 Ramalingam Mahesan

38 Vellautham Varatharasa

39 David Suresh ????

40 Ramiah Surendiran

41 Vigneswara Sarma

42 Ambalavanar Jeyapalan

43 Nagalingam Raveenthiran

44 Selvaratnam Sritharan

45 Ratnavel Ajithkumar Sri

46 R. A. Sujeeth Rohana

47 Victor Alfred Dominique

48 Ratnasingham Pushpakumar

49 Muthulingam Jeevarajah

50 Muthusamypillai Tharmalingam

51 Krishnaswamy Ramachanthiran

52 Elliaus Jenoba

53 Puwaneswary

54 Pathmanathan Sulosana

Political prisoners serving sentences

1 Veerapathiran Panchanathan

2 Thevarasa Jegatheswaran

3 Chelliah Ketheswaran

4 Sellapillai Mahendran

5 Thambiah Raveendran

6 Nallaratnam Singarasa

7 Mylvaganam Vijayaratnam

8 Vigneswaranathan Partheepan

9 Sathasivam Nimalakumar

10 Nagarasa Parameswaran

11 Selvarasa Kanagenthirarasa

12 Kathirgamathamby Sivakumar

13 Thangavel Sivapalan

14 N. Jeyakumar

15 P. Supaskaran

16 Shanmugasuntharam Ragupathy

17 Selvathy Sabaratnam

18 Sareswathy

Complete details on prisoners available from TCHR

Originally published February 28, 2004