Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission has received information from a reliable source that a number of students of the University of Jaffna have been murdered, arbitrarily arrested and disappeared since August 2006. Due to the security situation some classes had been cancelled until 19 February 2007. It has been allegedly reported that military officers were involved in two murders of the university students and the disappearance of the other two students. None of the cases of student victims have been investigated by the police and no perpetrators have been brought to justice so far. The students of the university and the family members of the victims are living under extremely difficult conditions.
CASE DETAILS:
According to the information we have received, on 15 August 2006, Sinnaiah Sivashankar, a third year student in the faculty of Science of the University of Jaffna, was shot dead by unknown armed men on a motorbike who shot indiscriminately towards the shop where Sinnaiah Sivashankar was having drinks with his friend. The victim died at the scene and his body was sent back to the family after the magisterial inquest was conducted on August 16. It has been reported that the victim has never involved in any political activities or criminal activities before he was killed.
Just three days after this incident, another student, Krishnan Kamalathas was shot by several unidentified armed men at around 6:15 am on 18 February 2007. Krishnan Kamalathas was a student in the art faculty of the University of Jaffna. He was shot when he was on his way to the university campus and he had been seen near the Varany army camp earlier on that day. The witness of the incident told that the victim was told to go back home by military officers when he was stopped by them. The victim was then shot dead shortly after he started walking back to his home.
In other incidents, two students have been missing from the campus in last four months. Markandu Sasikumar, a student, also in the art faculty has been missing since he went to Pungudutheivu Navy camp to get Military clearance to travel from Jaffna on 18 November 2006. At around 10:00 am on that day after the victim left the Navy camp to go to Delft, the victim was allegedly kidnapped by several unidentified men who came in a vehicle when the victim was waiting for a bus at the bus stop near the camp.
The other student, Arunakirinathan Niruparajh, a 25-year-old student in the faculty of Science was allegedly abducted on 3 January 2007. On the day when the victim was abducted, the victims family was moving to a new house just 100 metres away from the old house. According to the information, at around 11:00 am on that day, several army officers came to the victims house and drew a cordon around the property and searched his home. At around 2:30 pm on the same day, the victim left for the old house to bring some of his belongings and he went missing for few days, after which he was released. He bore injuries that he allegedly was sustained while he was abducted.
In the other case, Sicarajah Paheerathan, also a student of the University of Jaffna, and the president of the Student Union, was arrested by the Sri Lankan Army on August 19, 2006. He was sitting in a common room in the university at the time. The reason of his arrest was not explained at the time of his arrest. The vice chancellor of the university, Professor R. Kumaravadivel was at the site when the victim was arrested. It has been reported that the army conducted a search operation in the campus later on that day, and the campus was placed in turmoil because of the search operation.
To our regret, no perpetrators of the all above cases have been identified and arrested by police up to now. Anxiety among the students risen day by day and it will not stop until appropriate investigations into these cases are be started and the perpetrators brought to justice.
BACKGROUND INFORMATION AND ADDITIONAL COMMENT:
It has been reported that the majority of students of the University of Jaffna are from Tamil community which belongs to ethnic minority groups in Sri Lanka.
Human rights violations including arbitrary arrest and detention, torture, extrajudicial killings and disappearances, allegedly by state agencies are also widely practiced in all parts of the country. Moreover, corruption of the rule of law in the country remains persistent and is an impediment to the development of justice in society.
The killings, abductions, and arbitrary arrest of students in Jaffna reveal the harsh security conditions in the city. Moreover, the police inaction into the all the cases should be blatant negligence on the part of police and state authorities.
We therefore call for immediate investigations into all the cases mentioned above in order to bring the perpetrators before the court without further delay.
Also the state authorities should take action to ensure the security of the students of the University of Jaffna so that their education will not be disturbed.
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write to the relevant authorities listed below calling for an immediate investigation into this case. The AHRC also urges you to express your concern over the continuing violence, arbitrary arrest and disappearance in Sri Lanka.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear ________,
SRI LANKA: Worsening security situation of the students of the University of Jaffna
Name of the victim (killed): Sinnaiah Sivashankar, student of the faculty of science, University of Jaffna
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified several armed men
Place of incident: shop near the campus of the University of Jaffna
Date of incident: 15 August 2006
Name of the victim (killed): Krishnan Kamalathas, student of the faculty of arts, University of Jaffna
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified
Place of incident: near the campus of University of Jaffna
Date of incident: at around 6:15 am on 18 February 2007
Name of the victim disappeared: Markandu Sasikumar, student of the faculty of arts, University of Jaffna
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified
Place of incident: at the bus stop near the Pungudutheivu Navy camp
Date of incident: 18 November 2006
Name of the victim abducted and injured: Arunakirinathan Niruparajh, 25 year-old, student of the faculty of science, University of Jaffna
Alleged perpetrators: unidentified
Place of incident: 100 metres away from his old house
Date of incident: 3 January 2007
Name of the victim arrested: Sicarajah Paheerathan, president of the Student Union, University of Jaffna
Alleged perpetrators: Sri Lankan Army soldiers
Place of incident: the common room of the University of Jaffna
Date of incident: 19 August 2006
I am writing to you to express my deepest concern over the alleged killings, abductions, and arbitrary arrest of students of the University of Jaffna since 2006 to present.
To briefly review the case, Sinnaiah Sivashankar, a third year student in the faculty of Science of the University of Jaffna, was shot dead by several unknown armed men on a motorbike who were shooting indiscriminately towards the shop where Sinnaiah Sivashankar was having drinks with his friend on 15 August 2006. The victim died at the scene and his body was sent back to the family after the magisterial inquest was conducted on August 16. I have learned that the victim has never involved in political activities or criminal activities before he was killed.
Just three days after this incident, another student Krishnan Kamalathas was shot by several unidentified armed men at around 6:15 am on 18 February 2007. The victim was a student in the art faculty of the University of Jaffna. He was shot when he was on his way to the university campus and he had been seen by witness near the Varany army camp earlier on that day. The witness of the incident told that the victim was instructed to go back home by military officers when he was stopped by them. The victim was then shot dead shortly after he started walking back to his home.
In other incident, two students have been allegedly abducted from the campus in last four months. Markandu Sasikumar, a student in the faculty of arts, has been missing since he went to Pungudutheivu Navy camp to get Military clearance to travel from Jaffna on 18 November 2006. At around 10:00 am on that day after the victim left the Navy camp to go to Delft, the victim was allegedly kidnapped by several unidentified men who came in a vehicle when the victim was waiting for a bus at the bus stop near the camp.
The other student, Arunakirinathan Niruparajh, a 25-year-old student in the faculty of Science was allegedly abducted on 3 January 2007. On the day when the victim was abducted, the victims family was moving to a new house where just about 100 metres away from the old house. According to the information, at around 11:00 am on that day, several army officers came to the victims house and draw a cordon around his house and searched in his house. At around 2:30 pm on the same day, the victim left for the old house to bring some of his belongings and he went missing for few days until he was released later on (date unknown). He has been injured that he allegedly was sustained while he was abducted by unidentified perpetrators.
In the other case, Sicarajah Paheerathan, also a student of the University of Jaffna, and a president of the Student Union, was arrested by the Sri Lankan Army on August 19, 2006 without being given any explanations of the arrest. He was sitting in a common room in the university when he was arrested by the army. The vice chancellor of the university, Professor R. Kumaravadivel was at the site when the victim was arrested. It has been reported that the army conducted a search operation in the campus later on that day, and the campus was placed in turmoil because of the search operation.
I have learned that no perpetrators of the all above cases have been identified and arrested by police up to now. Anxiety among the students is growing day by day and it will not stop until appropriate investigations into those cases are started and the perpetrators brought before justice. I have also learned that some classes have been cancelled because of the confusing situation and for security reasons.
I must condemn that the inaction of the state and police authorities for the investigation of the above mentioned cases and prosecution of the perpetrators. It should be state authorities including police to conduct immediate investigation into crimes such as murder and abduction. Also, as it is enshrined under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, arbitrary arrest should not be practiced in the country since the Sri Lankan government is a state party to the covenant.
In light of the above, I urge your immediate intervention into the cases of students of the University of Jaffna, to ensure that the investigation will be conducted without further delay. I also urge your action in ensuring to provide the legal remedies to all the student victims in the cases above.
Lastly, I would like to urge your intervention to restore a safe environment for the students of the University of Jaffna to pursue their study without being disturbed.
I look forward to your sincere intervention into this case.
Sincerely yours,
—————
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTER TO:
1. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk
2. Mr. Victor Perera
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk
3. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net
4. Secretary
National Police Commission
3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers,
109 Galle Road
Colombo 03
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 395310
Fax: +94 11 2 395867
E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lk
5. Secretary
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road
Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk
6. Regional Office
National Police Commission
Seethawaka Industrial Park Road
off Kudagama Road
Avissawella
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 777 106198
7. Ms. Leila Zerrougui
Working Group on arbitrary detention
OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917 9006 (ATTENTION: WORKING GROUP ARBITRARY DETENTION)
Thank you.
Urgent Appeal Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ahrchk@ahrchk.org)
