Wednesday, 11 March 2015 00:27
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HR activists welcome release, voice concern about travel ban
Activists renew calls for repeal of PTA
Solicitor General appoints committee to work out gradual release of detainees: TNA
By Dharisha Bastians
Tamil widow and missing peoples’ campaigner Balendran Jeyakumari was released on bail yesterday after 362 days in detention under the Prevention of Terrorism Act, as the Government moved to fulfill a pledge to release Tamil political prisoners held without trial under the tough laws.
The Colombo Fort Magistrate granted conditional bail to Jeyakumari on personal surety bail of Rs. 200,000 and imposed a travel ban on her by impounding her passport and ordering her to report to a police station twice a month. Police said investigations into her case would continue.
Nine other detainees being held under PTA were also released yesterday; some of them on bail while others had charges against them dropped.
Jeyakumari was arrested at her Kilinochchi home by the Terrorist Investigation Department on 13 March 2014 on suspicion of harbouring an armed man. The Government said the armed suspect had been trying to regroup the LTTE.
Jeyakumari’s arrest in March 2014, as the UN Human Rights Council met in Geneva and was poised to consider a war crimes investigation against Sri Lanka, sparked an international outcry.
Human rights groups and fellow disappearances activists were protesting for her release outside the Fort Magistrate’s Court, where Jeyakumari’s case was being heard this week. She was greeted with floral bouquets and garlands by activists as she walked out of the courtroom. “I was looking for my missing child. Even today, I hope I find him and he comes back. I am helpless and left by myself with my girl. I have been in prison for one year. All of you helped me, the media and human rights groups. I thank everybody,” the tearful widow told reporters outside court yesterday.
TNA Parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran welcomed Jeyakumari’s release on bail and said they hoped for a “full release” soon.” The new Government seems intent on delivering on their promises, even though there were also delays,” Sumanthiran told Daily FT.
He said a committee has been appointed by the Solicitor General to work on the release of other political prisoners.
Sumanthiran, who has met the Solicitor General on the issue, said the first meeting of this committee would take place on Monday (16).
Jeyakumari and her 13-year-old daughter Vibushika have been at the forefront of missing peoples’ protests in the North. She has been searching for her missing son - a LTTE child conscript -who disappeared after reportedly surrendering to the military when the war ended in 2009. Jeyakumari claims he was later pictured in the LLRC report featuring rebels being rehabilitated by State authorities.
Ruki Fernando, advisor and activist to the INFORM human rights documentation centre in Sri Lanka, is relieved that Jeyakumari has been released, but voiced concern about conditions being attached to the release of human rights defenders being held under anti-terror laws.
Fernando was also arrested by the authorities last year, while he and a Catholic priest visited Jeyakumari’s village in the North to document her case.
“Restrictions on speaking and travel on me has been in force for a year and now also for Jeyakumari,” he told Daily FT.
But Fernando observed that her release would “bring hope” to other political prisoners, some of whom have been held in detention for nearly 20 years without charges or concluded trials.
“Jeyakumari’s release is good news but let’s remember that she should never have been arrested in the first place,” said Human Rights Watch Asia Director Brad Adams. Adams said Jeyakumari’s long-overdue release served as a reminder of the draconian nature of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act and the urgent need for its repeal.
“Jeyakumari is out, but untold numbers have languished in prisons for years without charge. The Government has promised a review of all of these cases but as an initial matter the PTA must be repealed,” Adams said.
