Rights activist, Catholic priest detained under PTA
Tuesday, 18 March 2014 01:04
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Police says detained in Kilinochchi on charges of inciting racial disharmony
Detainees to be brought to Colombo from Vavuniya
US says actions convincing of need for continued scrutiny of SL at UNHRC
By Dharisha Bastians
The detention of two leading human rights activists, one of them a Catholic priest, under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on Sunday night has caused concern and outrage as Sri Lanka prepares to face a tough resolution at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva next week.
Ruki Fernando, a human rights documentation worker, and Father Praveen, the former director of the Jaffna-based Centre for Peace and Reconciliation who works closely with families of disappeared people, were arrested in Kilinochchi at 10:30 p.m. on Sunday.
Police Spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana confirmed the pair had been served with detention orders under the PTA. “They were arrested on charges of inciting racial and communal disharmony,” SSP Rohana said.
He said the detainees were currently in Vavuniya and would be transferred to Colombo for further interrogation.
Only last Thursday a Tamil widow, Balendran Jeyakumari, was arrested and detained in Kilinochchi after Police raided the area in search of a suspect. SSP Rohana said one Policeman had been injured in the attack. Jeyakumari was served with a detention order on charges of having harboured an armed criminal.
The US Government, which is the main sponsor of the resolution at the UNHRC, reacted swiftly to the latest detentions, saying the actions proved that Sri Lanka warranted continued scrutiny at the Human Rights Council.
Issuing a statement , the US Embassy in Colombo expressed concern about the arrests of what they called “well known Sri Lankan human rights defenders and activists” over the past week. The statement urged the authorities to grant transparent and due legal process to the detainees.
The National Peace Council also reacted to the detentions saying the two activists’ commitment to sustainable peace and reconciliation and promotion of humanitarian norms are unquestionable.
“Both of them were arrested last evening in Kilinochchi in the north where they had been seeing to the welfare of families of missing persons following the arrest and detention of one of their members Balendran Jayakumari, whose youngest son went missing after allegedly surrendering to the Army at the end of the war,” the NPC said in a statement.
