Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance & Other Ill Treatment In the early years of the 21st Century, 2000 to
2025 gvnet.com/torture/SriLanka.htm
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CAUTION: The following links
have been culled from the web to illuminate the situation in Sri Lanka. Some of these links may lead to websites
that present allegations that are unsubstantiated or even false. No
attempt has been made to validate their authenticity or to verify their content. HOW TO USE THIS WEBPAGE Students If you are looking
for material to use in a term-paper, you are advised to scan the postings on
this page and others to see which aspects of Torture by Authorities are of
particular interest to you. You might
be interested in exploring the moral justification for inflicting pain or
inhumane or degrading treatment or punishment in order to obtain critical
information that may save countless lives, or to elicit a confession for a
criminal act, or to punish someone to teach him a lesson outside of the
courtroom. Perhaps your paper might
focus on some of the methods of torture, like fear, extreme temperatures,
starvation, thirst, sleep deprivation, suffocation, or immersion in freezing
water. On the other hand, you might
choose to write about the people acting in an official capacity who
perpetrate such cruelty. There is a
lot to the subject of Torture by Authorities.
Scan other countries as well as this one. Draw comparisons between activity in
adjacent countries and/or regions.
Meanwhile, check out some of the Term-Paper resources
that are available on-line. ***
ARCHIVES *** 2020 Country
Reports on Human Rights Practices: Sri Lanka U.S. Dept of State Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, 30 March 2021 www.state.gov/reports/2020-country-reports-on-human-rights-practices/sri-lanka/
[accessed 8 August
2021] TORTURE AND OTHER
CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT Interviews by human
rights organizations found that torture and excessive use of force by police,
particularly to extract confessions, remained endemic. The Human Rights
Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL), for example, noted that many reports of
torture referred to police officers allegedly “roughing up” suspects to
extract a confession or otherwise elicit evidence to use against the accused.
As in previous years, arrestees reported torture and mistreatment, forced
confessions, and denial of basic rights, such as access to lawyers or family
members. The HRCSL
documented 260 complaints of physical and mental torture from January to
August in addition to 37 complaints from prisoners. PRISON AND DETENTION
CENTER CONDITIONS Prison conditions
were poor due to old infrastructure, overcrowding, and a shortage of sanitary
facilities. Physical
Conditions: Overcrowding was a problem. On December 3, the press reported
that Prisons Commissioner General Thushara Upuldeniya stated prisons in Sri Lanka were overcrowded
by 173 percent, with the Colombo Welikada Prison
overcrowded by 300 percent. He noted that many were imprisoned due to
inability to pay fines or bail charges. Upuldeniya
stated that due to overcrowding, inmates lacked adequate space to sleep and
basic hygiene facilities. Authorities often held pretrial detainees and
convicted prisoners together as well. In many prisons inmates reportedly
slept on concrete floors, and prisons often lacked
natural light or ventilation. Canadian torture
survivor sues Sri Lankan official he claims was responsible for abuses Stewart Bell,
National Online Journalist, Investigative Global News, 15 April 2019 globalnews.ca/news/5169051/canadian-torture-survivor-sues-defence-minister/ [accessed 19 May
2019] Early on Sept. 14,
2007, police searched his home, asked for a bribe and, when Samathanam refused to pay, took him away on the grounds
he had helped a friend import cell phones. Samathanam was beaten with
metal pipes, rubber clubs and rifle butts, the document alleged. He was
kicked in the face, abdomen, arms and legs, and chained in painful positions. He was forced to
watch as other prisoners were hung upside down, struck with pipes, burned,
sexually assaulted and suffocated with plastic bags filled with gasoline and
chili peppers, according to the complaint. Samathanam’s captors threatened
to shoot him in the head, arrest and rape his wife and kill his child, all
the while accusing him of working for the Tamil Tigers intelligence wing in
Toronto. “No one can help
you here,” he was allegedly told. Sri
Lankan police torture Tamil youths, asking 'were you in LTTE?' Tamil Guardian, 23
November 2018 www.tamilguardian.com/content/sri-lankan-police-torture-tamil-youths-asking-were-you-ltte [accessed 24
November 2018] "They hung me
upside down and beat me, asking me if I was in the LTTE," one of the
victims, Pirakash Balasingham
from Elalai, Jaffna said. Both youths
received treatment for their injuries at Tellippalai
hospital following their release the next day. Sri Lankan reform
has 'ground to a halt' with torture used freely – UN Patrick Wintour,
Diplomatic Editor, The Guardian, 22 Jul 2018 [accessed 23 July
2018] Emmerson concluded on the basis of his visit that
progress towards reconciliation and a fair judicial system had virtually ground
to a halt. The British barrister said “impunity is still the rule for those
responsible for the routine and systemic use of torture, and countless
individuals are the victims of gross miscarriages of justice resulting from
the operation of the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA)“. Emmerson said he had heard “distressing testimonies of
very brutal and cruel methods of torture, including beatings with sticks, the
use of stress positions, asphyxiation using plastic bags drenched in
kerosene, pulling out of fingernails, insertion of needles beneath the
fingernails, use of various forms of water torture, suspension of individuals
for several hours by their thumbs, and mutilation of genitals”. Sri Lanka’s
‘disappeared’: Torture, assault and still no justice Emma Richards, Asian
Correspondent, 11 May 2018 asiancorrespondent.com/2018/05/sri-lankas-disappeared-torture-assault-and-still-no-justice/#y10Wfr8TxgbT8w36.97 [accessed 16 May
2018] Nihal’s story of abduction
and abuse is not a unique one. Reporter Drew Ambrose spoke to several men
with similar stories of the mysterious “white van.” Many, like Nishal, spend years in detention without charge or access
to a lawyer. Nishal was eventually released once it
was deemed there was not enough evidence to charge him, but this was after he
spent a total of seven years behind bars. More than 60,000
others have gone missing over the last 30 years; the victims largely belong
to the minority Sri Lankan Tamil community. While there are many reports of
this being used as a tactic throughout the 26-year civil war against the
Tamil Tiger rebel fighters, Ambrose found that the practice continues today. “Kidnappings were
used to instil fear during Sri Lanka’s long-running
civil war,” says Ambrose. “It’s been almost a decade since the war ended but
we met people who say they were abducted and tortured as recently as last
year.” Freedom House
Country Report 2018 Edition freedomhouse.org/country/sri-lanka/freedom-world/2018 [accessed 18 May
2020] F3. IS THERE
PROTECTION FROM THE ILLEGITIMATE USE OF PHYSICAL FORCE AND FREEDOM FROM WAR
AND INSURGENCIES? Police and security
forces have engaged in abusive practices, including arbitrary arrest,
extrajudicial execution, forced disappearance, custodial rape, torture, and
prolonged detention without trial, all of which disproportionately affect
Tamils. In November 2017, allegations of torture and sexual assault of some
50 Tamil men by members of the security forces emerged in the international
media. Due to huge backlogs and a lack of resources, independent commissions
have been slow to investigate allegations of police and military misconduct. Men report rape,
torture under Sri Lankan government Paisley Dodds, The Associated Press AP, 8 November 2017 www.foxnews.com/world/2017/11/08/men-report-rape-torture-under-sri-lankan-government.html [accessed 9 November
2017] Most of the men say
they were sexually abused or raped, sometimes with sticks wrapped in barbed
wire. Homosexuality is illegal in Sri Lanka and rape carries a significant
social stigma. Witness #205 said
he was held for 21 days in a small room where he was raped 12 times, burned
with cigarettes, beaten with iron rods and hung upside- down. Another man described
being abducted from home by five men, driven to a prison, and taken to a
"torture room" equipped with ropes, iron rods, a bench and buckets
of water. Blood stained the walls. A third said
prisoners had grown accustomed to the sound of screaming. "It made us
really scared the first day but then we got used to it because we heard
screaming all the time." Police Scotland
under fire after new evidence of Sri Lankan torture Billy Briggs, The
Ferret, 24 May 2016 theferret.scot/police-scotland-in-sri-lankan-state-torture-controversy/ [accessed 9 August
2016] www.freedomfromtorture.org/features/8481 [accessed 9 August
2016] Methods of torture included
beatings, burning, rape and other forms of sexual violence, asphyxiation,
electric shocks, mock executions, and stabbings. FfT’s Tainted Peace
report said detention conditions are dreadful in Sri Lanka, with many
detainees held in darkness and deprived of adequate food and water. Seventy
per cent of people were held in solitary confinement. Regarding torture
by the state, it added: “The high prevalence of burning with cigarettes or
heated pieces of metal could reflect a policy of branding, not only to
inflict long term psychological and physical damage, but to ensure that the
individual is easily identifiable in future as having been of adverse
interest to the authorities.” People were
slapped, punched or trampled on their heads, hands, feet, genitals and
abdomen. Many reported losing consciousness – and coming around only to be
tortured again. Alleged Police
Torture Exposed In Court Easwaran Rutnam,
Sunday Leader, 2 Aug 2016 www.thesundayleader.lk/2016/07/31/alleged-police-torture-exposed-in-court/ [accessed 2 August
2016] Alleged police
torture was taken up at the Mallakam court last
week where it was alleged that the Chunnakam police
had assaulted and killed a suspect in 2011 and later turned the murder into
suicide. The youth claimed
that they were beaten and tortured mercilessly while one boy had his body
stretched between two tables. The boy, identified
as Suman, was asked by the police if he wanted a separate state, while he was
being tortured. The Mallakam court was told that while being assaulted, Suman
began to bleed from his nose and mouth and had succumbed to his injuries. The body was thrown
into the Iranamadu tank and later the police
claimed that the boy had committed suicide. Human
Rights Watch World Report 2015 - Events of 2014 Human Rights Watch,
29 January 2015 www.hrw.org/world-report/2015/...
or
www.hrw.org/sites/default/files/wr2015_web.pdf [accessed 18 March
2015] SRI LANKA CRACKDOWN ON CIVIL
SOCIETY AND CRITICS
- Arbitrary
arrests of Sri Lankan activists who advocate for accountability continued in
2014. The government also widened its crackdown against independent media and
human rights defenders. REFUGEES - Human Rights
Watch and others have documented the authorities’ use of torture against
people suspected of links to the LTTE, including those returned as failed
asylum seekers from the United Kingdom and other countries. Police completes Chilaw torture investigation Maneshka Borham,
The Nation, 24 August 2014 www.nation.lk/edition/news-online/item/32622-police-completes-chilaw-torture-investigation.html [accessed 16
September 2014] cityvista.tumblr.com/post/2014-Aug-25 [accessed 30 August
2016] [scroll down] Sanjeewa who repaired push bicycles
as his livelihood at Panirendawa and two others
were allegedly arrested by police in civvies and brutally attacked on
suspicion of a theft committed in the Sembukattiya
area. He alleges that a
particular officer urinated on him when he asked for some water. Describing
the incident the victim said the officers kicked him and threw him into the
back of the vehicle they arrived in. According to Sanjeewa,
the officers had continued to assault him while the police jeep was in
motion. At the Police station the officers allegedly attacked him with wooden
poles and tortured repeatedly for refusing to admit a theft he had no hand
in. The arrest,
detention and torture of Tamils in post-war Sri Lanka Arthur, 11 April
2014 groundviews.org/2014/04/11/the-arrest-detention-and-torture-of-tamils-in-post-war-sri-lanka/ [accessed 20 April
2014] There is an alarming
trend in the Sri Lankan security forces operation, of arresting the family
members of suspects and keeping them as hostages in detention camps. These women are
held in inhuman conditions without the basic facilities and necessary
accessories by the unsympathetic officials. The officials seem to be
oblivious to the fact that their captives are human beings and are entitled
to basic facilities and humane treatment. No sympathy could be expected from
the authorities whose mindset is hard, inhuman, and cruel in the treatment of
detainees. In Sri Lanka,
Abuse, Torture, Rape Continue Says Report Shanoor Seervai,
India Real Time, 3 April 2014 blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2014/04/03/in-sri-lanka-abuse-torture-rape-continue-says-report/ [accessed 4 April
2014] Most of the
witnesses interviewed for the report, titled “An Unfinished War: Torture and
Sexual Violence in Sri Lanka 2009-2014,” had returned to Sri Lanka after the
government said they were welcome to come home at the end of the decades-long
war. Upon their return,
the unnamed witnesses in the report said they were abducted, detained and
tortured. The report includes
first-hand accounts of alleged torture in detention, including being branded
with hot metal rods, burnt with lit cigarettes, lacerated, and water boarded.
All the witnesses say they were sexually abused, some with metal objects. Sri Lanka Army
Admits Torture of Women Recruits Source: Agence France Presse AFP, 20
March 2014 www.naharnet.com/stories/en/123511-sri-lanka-army-admits-torture-of-women-recruits [accessed 23 March
2014] Sri Lanka's
military admitted on Saturday soldiers had abused and tortured female
recruits, a rare admission of guilt after years of allegations over its
personnel's treatment of Tamil rebels during an uprising. It is the first
time the military has accepted a leaked video showing torture as authentic, previously rejecting as fabrications several
others allegedly showing executions of surrendered Tamil rebels and sexual
abuse of female detainees. A study published
Friday by South African human rights lawyer and UN adviser, Yasmin Sooka, alleged that Sri Lankan troops carried out
horrific sexual abuse of ethnic minority Tamils even after the end of the
island's drawn out separatist war. She said the
"highest levels" of Sri Lanka's government were complicit in
raping, torturing and abducting ethnic Tamils following the war and accused
security forces of sexual abuse of Tamils, including forced oral sex and anal
rape as well as water torture. Torture, inhumane
degrading treatment and harassment of a prison officer Asian Human Rights
Commission-Urgent Appeal Programme Urgent Appeal Case:
AHRC-UAC-032-2014, 14 March, 2014 www.humanrights.asia/news/urgent-appeals/AHRC-UAC-032-2014 [accessed 17 March
2014] According to the
information received by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) Mr. Samarasinghe Arachchilage
Samantha Dassanayake is a jailor of the Sri Lanka
Prison Department attached to the Negombo Prison.
He is married and is said to have an impeccable service record with the
Department. In the evening of
30 July 2013 Samantha went to the Seeduwa Police
Station to assist his friend to make a complaint and obtain justice. This was
regarding information that his friend, A.M. Naweendra
Chandraratne, was assaulted by Daya
Nilanga Silva, the son-in-law of Ramyasiri de Soiza, who is said
to be a ward member of Negombo Municipal Council. Then Samantha was
suddenly assaulted by Daya Nilanga
Silva, the son-in-law of Ramyasiri de Soiza in front of the police officers inside the police
station. None of the officers made any attempt to prevent the assault from
taking place or take any action against the blatantly illegal action of Mr. Daya Nilanga Silva. When he was in
police custody, due to the assault he was bleeding continuously from his left
ear. While he was in the holding cell the Ramyasiri
de Soiza approached and sarcastically asked him how
he was feeling. de Soiza threatened him and warned
him to be careful or he would face bigger problems. The police officers who
witnessed this exchange did not take any action against de Soiza or his son-in-law, Daya Nilanga Silva. Later that night
one of the Assistant Superintendents of Police (ASP) came and took a
statement from Samantha and the following day (31 July 2013) he was released.
He was later admitted to the Negombo General
Hospital. Samantha states
that he was illegally arrested, detained by officers of the Seeduwa Police Station who permitted him to be tortured
by Ramyasiri de Soiza,
the ward member of Negombo Municipal Council and
his son-in-law, Mr. Daya Nilanga
Silva which under Sri Lankan law constitutes torture by state officers. Samantha complained
to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRC), the Inspector General of
Police (IGP), and the National Police commission (NPC) seeking an
independent, impartial, prompt and efficient inquiry into the violation of
his rights. However, as at the time of writing none of these authorities have
initiated any inquiry into the matter which continues to violate his rights.
Samantha and his family members seek justice and the protection of his rights
as enshrined in the Constitution of Sri Lanka. 26 victims exhumed,
mass grave reveals torture, executions at standing position TamilNet, 6 January 2014 www.tamilnet.com/art.html?catid=13&artid=36960 [accessed 3 March
2014] There were also
teeth of children among the remains recovered on Saturday. On Monday, a full skeleton
of a 6-year-old child has been exhumed. 26 skeletons have been found till
Monday noon. Several skeletons recovered so far also bore marks of torture,
the sources told TamilNet Monday. The exhumation
effort will continue, the reports said. The victims were
most probably innocent civilians who were trying to reach Mannaar
through Naayaattu-ve’li during the Sri Lanka Army
launched military operation Rana Gosha in 1999. At least 240 people
are reported missing between 1990 and 2009 in the nearby villages Paappaamoaddai, Ka’ndal, Pa’l’limunai, Ma’likaith-thidal,
Theanudaiyaan and Veaddaiyaa-mu’rippu,
the legal sources further said. Sri Lankan
'suspects' tell of rape and torture Dean Nelson, Daily
Telegraph, 1 November 2013 www.dnaindia.com/world/report-sri-lankan-suspects-tell-of-rape-and-torture-1911999 [accessed 2 Nov
2013] The country has
5,676 "outstanding cases" of disappearances - more than any other
apart from Iraq. Although the civil war ended in 2009, President Mahinda
Rajapaksa's government has kept the Prevention of Terrorism Act, which allows
anyone to be jailed without charge or trial for up to 18 months. Human Rights
Watch (HRW) has documented 10 cases of suspects being tortured or mistreated
in detention since February. More disappearances
have also taken place in recent months. One 30-year-old woman told The Daily
Telegraph that she was abducted by men driving an unmarked white van in the
northern city of Jaffna on August 12. She was bundled in to the vehicle,
blindfolded and driven about 90 miles to the town of Vavuniya.
There, she was interrogated, stripped and photographed naked by men she
believed were police officers from the Criminal Investigation Department. Later that evening,
several of the men beat her with rods. "I was raped by many men, not
just one and it continued until I escaped," she said. "They bit me
on my backside and breasts." On August 31, she was blindfolded and
placed in a vehicle again. The woman, a mother, feared that she was going to
be murdered. Instead she was taken to meet her uncle, who had paid a large
bribe to secure her release. She then fled to India and later to Britain, where
she is now seeking asylum. "I could not
have taken any more. If I have to go back, I would not survive," she
said by telephone from London. Torture in Sri
Lanka - ‘Many times I would lose consciousness’ Amnesty
International, 25 June 2013 www.amnesty.org/en/news/torture-sri-lanka-many-times-i-would-lose-consciousness-2013-06-26 [accessed 26 June
2013] Thevan (not his real
name) has flashbacks of the impossible days he spent being tortured in a
police cell in Sri Lanka’s capital, Colombo. In late 2008, Thevan worked in a shop near Vavuniya. On 29 November that year, he travelled to
Colombo with a friend amid the country’s escalating civil war, and both were
abducted by men driving a white van.
The men blindfolded them and took them to a detention centre. Three days of torture passed before they realized
they were being held in a police station. “I was blindfolded
and with my hands tied behind my back. Sometimes our heads were banged
against the wall or we would be kicked on our chests. Many times I was half
conscious or would lose consciousness. When I would come back I would find
people hitting me. They used to say: ‘You must accept that you are part of
the Tamil Tigers and you must sign these papers’”. Sri Lanka security
rape, torture Tamil detainees: HRW Nita Bhalla, Reuters, NEW DELHI, 26 Feb 2013 www.reuters.com/article/2013/02/26/us-srilanka-rape-idUSBRE91P11G20130226 [accessed 27
February 2013] Sri Lanka's
security forces have used rape to torture and extract confessions from
suspected Tamil separatists almost four years after the country's civil war
ended, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said in a report on Tuesday. The rights group
documented 75 cases of predominately Tamil men and women who said they were
held in Sri Lankan detention centers and repeatedly raped and sexually abused
by the military, police and intelligence officials. The victims - now
living as asylum seekers, most of them in Britain - said once they confessed
to being a member of the Tamil Tiger rebel group, the abuse generally stopped
and they were allowed to escape by paying a bribe. "We found that
rape was used to secure some sort of confession, but also as a political tool
to punish people," Meenakshi Ganguly, the rights group's South Asia director, told a
news conference in New Delhi. Other victims said
they were "severely tortured, burnt by cigarettes and hung upside
down," he added. Sri Lanka's High Commissioner
to New Delhi, Prasad Kariyawasam, said he had no
evidence to suggest the allegations of abuse, which the rights group said
occurred from 2006 to 2012, were true. Conclusions and
recommendations of the Committee against Torture U.N. Convention
against Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman or Degrading Treatment or
Punishment -- Doc. CAT/C/LKA/CO/3-4
(2011) www1.umn.edu/humanrts/cat/observations/srilanka2011.html [accessed 6 March
2013] C. Principal
subjects of concern and recommendations Allegations of widespread use of
torture and ill-treatment 6. Notwithstanding
the new circumstances prevailing since the defeat of the Liberation Tigers of
Tamil Eelam (LTTE) and the end of the military conflict that had consumed the
country for nearly 30 years, and the State party’s public commitment to the
Committee that it has a zero-tolerance policy on torture as a matter of State
policy and practice, the Committee remains seriously concerned about the
continued and consistent allegations of widespread use of torture and other
cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment of suspects in police custody,
especially to extract confessions or information to be used in criminal
proceedings. The Committee is further concerned at reports that suggest that
torture and ill- treatment perpetrated by State actors, both the military and
the police, have continued in many parts of the country after the conflict
ended in May 2009 and is still occurring in 2011 (arts. 2, 4, 11 and 15). Fundamental legal
safeguards 7. While noting the
information provided by the State party on the content of the Presidential Directives
of 7 July 2006 (reissued in 2007) and the Rules with regard to Persons in
Custody of the Police (Code of Departmental Order No. A 20), the Committee
expresses its serious concern at the State party’s failure in practice to
afford all detainees, including those detained under anti-terrorist laws,
with all fundamental safeguards from the very outset of their detention. The
Committee is concerned that, despite the content of the 2006 Presidential
Directives, criminal suspects held in custody still have no statutory right
to inform a family member of the arrest or to have prompt access to a lawyer
of their choice. The Code of Criminal Procedure also lacks other fundamental
legal safeguards, such as the right to have a lawyer present during any interrogation
and to be assisted by an interpreter and the right to confidential
communication between lawyer and client. The Committee notes with concern
that access to a doctor is left to the discretion of the police officer in
charge of the police station. It also expresses concern about reports that
police fail to bring suspects before a judge within the time prescribed by
law and that accused persons are often not adequately informed about their
rights. The Committee also expresses its concern at the absence of a
State-sponsored legal aid programme; and, at the
variety of institutional, technical and procedural obstacles rendering the
writ of habeas corpus ineffective (art. 2). Secret detention centres 8. Notwithstanding
the statement of the Sri Lankan delegation categorically denying all
allegations about the existence of unacknowledged detention facilities in its
territory, the Committee is seriously concerned about reports received from
non-governmental sources regarding secret detention centres
run by the Sri Lankan military intelligence and paramilitary groups where
enforced disappearances, torture and extrajudicial killings have allegedly
been perpetrated (art. 2 and 11). Coerced confessions 11. While noting
the clarification given by the State party in respect of the inadmissibility
of evidence obtained through torture under the Evidence Ordinance Act 1985,
the Committee remains concerned about the fact that the PTA allows all
confessions obtained by police at or above the rank of Assistant
Superintendent of Police (ASP) to be admissible (sect. 16) placing the burden
of proof on the accused that a confession was obtained under duress (sect.
17(2)). The Committee is also concerned at reports that in most cases filed
under the PTA the sole evidence relied upon is confessions obtained by an ASP
or an officer above that rank The Committee further notes with concern
reports documenting individual cases of torture and ill-treatment where the
victims were allegedly randomly selected by police to be arrested and detained
for what appears to be an unsubstantiated charge and subsequently subjected
to torture or ill-treatment to obtain a confession for those charges (art. 2,
11, 15 and 16) Deaths in custody 15. The Committee
is concerned at reports from non-governmental organisations
on deaths in custody, including police killings of criminal suspects in
alleged staged “encounters” or “escape” attempts.2 The Committee notes with
concern that the State party only reported two cases of death in custody,
where the cause of death was determined to be suicide, for the entire period
2006-2011, while for a similar period between 2000-2005 the State party had
reported in its core document approximately 65 annual deaths in custody from
all causes (HRI/CORE/LKA/2008, p. 87). Impunity for acts
of torture and ill-treatment 18. The Committee
remains concerned about the prevailing climate of impunity in the State party
and the apparent failure to investigate promptly and impartially wherever
there is reasonable ground to believe that an act of torture has been
committed. It also notes the absence of an effective independent monitoring
mechanism to investigate complaints of torture. The Committee expresses
concern over reports that the Attorney General’s office has stopped referring
cases to the Special Investigations Unit (SUP) of the police and the large
proportion of pending cases still outstanding. The Committee is also
concerned at numerous reports concerning the lack of independence of the
judiciary (arts. 11, 12 and 13). AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL From an old article -- URL not available Article was
published sometime prior to 2015 TORTURE AND OTHER
ILL-TREATMENT Torture in police
custody persisted. In at least five cases, victims died in custody after beatings
or other ill-treatment by the police. On 15 April, Chandrasiri Dassanayake, a
witness in a human rights case filed with the Supreme Court against the
Officer-in-Charge of Wadduwa Police Station, died
in custody there. Police claimed they arrested him for cannabis possession
and that he fell sick in his cell and was admitted to hospital. The victim’s
son reported seeing his father lying on the floor of the cell bleeding and
said Chandrasiri Dassanayake
told him he had been beaten by police. The death led to local protests and
the Officer-in-Charge, a sergeant and two other police constables were
transferred to other police stations, but no further action was taken. Thirty Tamil
prisoners were assaulted and two died of injuries inflicted by STF members
who reportedly beat them in retaliation for a prison uprising in Vavuniya in June. Twenty-seven
inmates died in a clash between prisoners and STF members at Welikada prison on 9 November. Results of an official
inquiry into allegations that some prisoners were extrajudicially
executed were not made public EXCESSIVE USE OF
FORCE In February Antony Warnakulasuriya was killed and three others were wounded
when the Special Task Force (STF), a commando unit, fired live ammunition
into a crowd of people from the fishing community who were protesting against
fuel price increases outside the west coast town of Chilaw.
Police reportedly blocked protesters from taking the injured to hospital by
land, forcing them to go by boat ENFORCED
DISAPPEARANCES More than 20 alleged
enforced disappearances were reported. Victims included political activists,
business people and suspected criminals. Prominent cases from past years
remained unresolved. Armed men abducted
Tamil businessman Ramasamy Prabaharan
on 11 February, just two days before the Supreme Court was scheduled to hear
his complaints against arbitrary arrest, detention and torture by police and
seizure of his business in May 2009. In April, Frontline
Socialist Party activists Premakumar Gunaratnam and Dimuthu Attigala were abducted shortly before the launch of the
new party; both were interrogated and eventually released. Premakumar Gunaratnam, an
Australian citizen, said he was tortured by his abductors, who he believed
were linked to the government. ***
EARLIER EDITIONS OF SOME OF THE ABOVE *** Freedom House
Country Report - Political Rights: 4 Civil Liberties: 4 Status: Partly Free 2009 Edition www.freedomhouse.org/report/freedom-world/2009/sri-lanka [accessed 12
February 2013] LONG
URL ç 2009 Country Reports begin on Page 21 [accessed 13 May
2020] In November 2005,
the new government transferred authority over the police force to the
Ministry of Defense. Heightened political and military conflict beginning in
2006 has led to a sharp rise in the number of human rights abuses committed
by security forces, including arbitrary arrest, extrajudicial executions,
forced disappearances, torture, custodial rape, and prolonged detention
without trial. Torture occurs in the context of the insurgency and during
routine interrogations. Such practices are facilitated by emergency
regulations reintroduced in 2005, under which detainees can be held for up to
a year without trial. Human Rights
Reports » 2005 Country Reports on Human Rights Practices www.state.gov/g/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61711.htm [accessed 12
February 2013] 2009-2017.state.gov/j/drl/rls/hrrpt/2005/61711.htm [accessed 7 July
2019] TORTURE
AND OTHER CRUEL, INHUMAN, OR DEGRADING TREATMENT OR PUNISHMENT – The law makes
torture a punishable offense but does not implement several provisions of the
UN Convention Against Torture. Human rights groups maintained that while
torture is prohibited under specific circumstances, it was allowed under
others. According to the HRC and other credible sources, the use of police
torture to extract admissions and confessions was endemic and conducted with
impunity. In addition the Emergency Regulations make confessions obtained
under any circumstance, including by torture, sufficient to hold a person
until the individual is brought to court; 1,798 arrests were made under the
Emergency Regulations during the year, although 1,236 of those arrested were
released within 12 hours. The majority of those arrested were Tamil, although
detainees included Sinhalese and Muslims as well. In addition to suspicion of
terrorism, people were detained for lack of identification, narcotics, and
outstanding warrants (see section 1.d.). Methods of torture included
beatings--often with sticks, iron bars or hose--electric shock, suspending
individuals by the wrists or feet in contorted positions, burning, genital
abuse, and near-drowning. Detainees reported broken bones and other serious
injuries as a result of their mistreatment, and during the year deaths
occurred in police custody (see section 1.a.). On October 10, the
trial began of three police officers indicted by the Kurunegala
High Court for allegedly torturing and sexually abusing Nandini
Herat in 2002, and at year's end the trial was in progress. The government
continued to investigate seven past cases of rape committed by security
forces. Of the 634
allegations of police torture, the majority of complaints came from police
stations outside the north and east. The government continued to investigate
183 past cases of torture. There were credible
nongovernmental organization (NGO) reports that police tortured individuals
in custody. For example, the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) reported
that on May 19, Hevana Hennadige
Priyadarshana Fernando was kicked and beaten at the
Panadura police station in Kalutara
District. Fernando was later released on bail, and the magistrate was
informed of the torture incident. At year's end no charges were filed against
the officers responsible for torturing Fernando, although the original
charges against Fernando remained. On June 11, Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara reported
harassment and intimidation regarding his January 2004 complaint of police
torture at the Matale police station. At year's end
there were no developments in his case. On July 11,
according to the AHRC, tuberculosis patient Thummiya
Hakura Sarath testified
that in February 2004 subinspector Silva of the Welipenna police station forced Sarath
to spit into the mouth of Palitha Tissa Kumara Koralaliyanage,
who was in custody and whom subinspector Silva was
torturing. The Supreme Court had not heard Koralaliyanage's
case, which was pending at year's end. Special sections of
the attorney general's office and the criminal investigation unit focused on
torture complaints. During the year the units forwarded 63 cases for
indictments, in which 1 resulted in an indictment, 2 were dismissed, and the
other 59 were pending. The interparliamentary
permanent standing committee and its interministerial
working group on human rights issues also continued to track criminal
investigations of torture. In June 2004 the
HRC established a torture prevention monitoring unit to implement its
"zero tolerance" torture policy (see section 4). The HRC provided
extra training for officers assigned to this unit and established a policy of
quick investigation for torture complaints. The HRC also assigned special
teams to investigate deaths in police custody. By year's end the HRC had
opened cases on 634 torture complaints. All
material used herein reproduced under the fair use exception of 17 USC § 107
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ARTICLES. Cite this
webpage as: Patt, Prof. Martin, "Torture by Police, Forced Disappearance
& Other Ill Treatment in the early years of the 21st Century- Sri
Lanka", http://gvnet.com/torture/SriLanka.htm, [accessed <date>] |
