Over 200 Tamil prisoners go on hunger strike

AFP: More than 200 Tamil prisoners staged hunger strikes and other protests in jails across Sri Lanka this week against being incarcerated for years without trial, officials said Thursday.

Eight inmates were taken to the Prison Hospital of Colombo’s main jail on Wednesday night, after refusing food for three days to push their demands for progress in their drawn-out cases, national Prisons Chief Rohana Pushpakumara said.

Some of the 200 are refusing food while others are defying demands to return to their cells and follow orders, Justice Ministry Spokesman Harsha Abeykoon said.

The prisoners were arrested during Sri Lanka’s 37-year civil war for suspected involvement with Tamil rebels fighting for a separate homeland for the ethnic minority.

Although the war ended in 2009, some of those arrested under draconian anti-terrorism laws at the height of the conflict still languish in jail without any charges ever being brought against them.

Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe visited the main Welikada prison in Colombo on Thursday and assured the detainees that the Government would expedite their cases.

“The Minister promised them that the Attorney General’s Department will speed up the cases or release those against whom there is no evidence,” Ministry Spokesman Abeykoon said.

The new Government of President Maithripala Sirisena, who came to power in January, has promised speedy action to help detainees, as part of reconciliation efforts.

The detention of Tamils without trial has been a key criticism of successive Sri Lankan governments which are dominated by the majority Sinhalese community.

Sri Lanka also faces allegations that tens of thousands of Tamil civilians were killed by Government forces while battling the Tiger rebels. At least 100,000 people were killed in fighting between 1972 and May 2009.