UK 'complicit in torture' as Tamils return to Sri Lanka

Channel 4 News   Monday 26 September 2011

 Britain is leaving itself open to allegations it is complicit in torture by sending failed Tamil asylum seekers back to Sri Lanka despite evidence physical abuse is a "daily reality", a charity warns.

The charity Freedom from Torture said a number of Tamils were due to be forcibly removed by the UK Border Agency and flown back to Sri Lanka on Wednesday.

The group says it has credible evidence that members of the Tamil minority are still being routinely mistreated following the end of the country's bloody civil war.

Speaking at an event at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, the charity's chief executive Keith Best called the present government's position "untenable".

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A Delhi court delivers landmark verdict sympathising with the Sri Lankan Tamils

By P C Vinoj Kumar   26 Sep 2011

Posted 26-Sep-2011 Vol 2 Issue 38 For all those who have resigned to the unfairness of Indian foreign policy on Sri Lanka - which has been biased in favour of the majority Sinhalese and prejudiced towards minority Tamils - a recent order by a Delhi Metropolitan Magistrate, Arul Varma, should reinforce faith in the Indian judiciary to rise above expediency of the government.     Full Story>>> =========================================

Lanka to seek diplomatic immunity for General

By P K Balachandran  26 Sep 2011 10:59:00 PM IST

Lanka to seek diplomatic immunity for General 

COLOMBO: Sri Lanka is to seek diplomatic immunity for Maj Gen Shavendra Silva, who has been summoned by an US court following a case filed against him for alleged torture and extra judicial execution of ‘Col’ Ramesh, an LTTE commander, who had surrendered to the Lankan forces in the final days of action against the Tamil Tigers in 2009.  “Being Sri Lanka’s Deputy Permanent Representative at the United Nations, Shavendra Silva has diplomatic immunity. He cannot be dragged to a court in the US. The UN Secretary General will write to the court to inform it of the immunity,” asserted Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Lanka’s powerful Defence Secretary.
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