Dear friends,
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that police allegedly assaulted two men, which caused that one’s tooth to be broken, and detained them in Ahangama police station in Sri Lanka on 5 January 2008. Later, police allegedly fabricated charges against them. They were released on bail. However, no investigation has been conducted into the alleged assault and fabrication of charges by the police.
CASE DETAILS: (based on the testimony from the victim, Mr. Mohamad Maharoof Mohamad Pasmi)
On 5 January 2008, Mr. Mohamad Maharoof Mohamad Pasmi, a driver, drove his van with five passengers toward Galle from Tangalla. When he arrived at the main bus stand of Galle at about 3:30am, the passengers went to a Mosque to pray and Mohamad Pasmi went to drink tea at a hotel nearby with Mr. Mohamad Riyaf.
According to the information received, while they were drinking tea, three police officers in civil dress from Ahangama Police called Mohamad Pasmi and asked whether he is a van driver. When Mohamad Pasmi came out, one officer had grabbed his T-shirt and took him near the police jeep. The officer questioned him about a lorry that had transported some cattle. When Pasmi said he did not know anything, the officer hit him on the left side of his face, which broke a tooth in his upper jaw. Then, the officers hit Mohamad Riyaf too. They pushed them into the police jeep and wandered from place to place in Galle town. When they saw cow dung in the clothes of two persons near the Navy camp, they forcibly took them too in the jeep. After being questioned, the two men showed the police a place where the cows were being kept. Then the police officers told them that they needed diesel for the jeep and ordered them to bring a can of diesel and power oil. Within a few minutes after receiving the diesel and oil the police released the two persons.
The police took Mohamad Pasmi and Mohamad Riyaf to Galle Harbour police and kept them for two hours before transferring to Ahangama police station.
On January 6, the next day, they were taken to the official residence of the Magistrate and charged with robbery and unlawful transport of cattle and produced before Galle magistrate’s court. They were remanded till January 8 and released on bail after paying 40,000 Rupees (USD 370) respectively.
Mohamad Pasmi went to the Thangalla Basic hospital for three days in ward number 5. In the hospital, he informed about the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) of the police assault.
On January 31, they sent a written submission to the Chairperson of the National Human Rights Commission and also informed to the Senior Superintendent of Police in Galle, National Police Commission and the Inspector General of Police on February 6.
ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:
Arbitrary arrest by police is not based on the reasonable evidence but based on their discretion, which is later unmonitored and followed fabrication of charges. Torture is used as a method at the time of arrest and/or during criminal investigations (For details, AHRC-UAC-028-2008, UA-321-2007, UA-319-2007, UA-303-2007, UA-288-2007, UA-284-2007, UA-283-2007, UA-280-2007, UA-261-2007).
In fact, the reasons for torture have been so trivial, such as failure to obtain a bribe, to please a friend or an opposing party that has paid off the police, to comply with traffic instructions, trying to deal with a complaint against a man by his in-laws over a family loan, sheer drunkenness or trying to find a substitute suspect for a crime the police have failed to resolve. (See Commentary at Torture for torture’s sake UPI Asia Online)
SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the government authorities listed below and urge them to investigate the alleged assault of two men by the police and punish those responsible if found guilty.
The AHRC is writing a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture calling for an intervention in this case.
To support this case, please click here: SEND APPEAL LETTER
SAMPLE LETTER
Dear __________,
SRI LANKA: Police allegedly assault and fabricate charges against two men
Name of victims:
1. Mohamad Maharoof Mohamad Pasmi, a driver, residing at No.23/06, Muslim Street,Tangalla
2. Mohamad Riyaf
Charged by: robberies and unlawful transportation of cattles
Name of alleged perpetrators:
1. Two police officers from Ahangama police station (their names are unknown but identified if seen)
2. Officer-in-Charge (OIC), Ahangama police station, Galle Dist II, Galle Division, Southern Range
Date of incident: 5 January 2008
Place of incident: In front of a tea boutique of main bus stand in Galle
I am writing to express deep concern regarding the alleged assault and fabrication of charges against two men, mentioned above, by the Ahangama police on 5 January 2008.
According to the information received, Mohamad Pasmi was taking tea with Mohamad Riyaf at a hotel nearby the main bus stand in Galle after they arrived by his van coming for five passengers. At about 3:30am, three police officers in civilian dress from Ahangama police station questioned Mohamad Pasmi about a lorry that had transported some cattle. When Mohamad Pasmi said he was unaware of it, the officers allegedly assault him, which caused his tooth to be broken. They also hit Mohamad Riyaf.
After the assault, they took them to Galle Harbour police and kept them for two hours and transferred to Ahangama police station. On January 6, Mohamad Pasmi and Riyaf were charged of robberies and unlawful transport of cattle and produced before Galle Magistrate court. They were released on bail on January 8 after paying 40,000 Rupees (USD 370) respectively.
They went to the Thangalla Basic hospital for three days in ward number 5 and informed the police assault to the Judicial Medical Officer (JMO)
In light of above, I urge you to thoroughly investigate into this alleged police’s assault without delay. Those responsible involved in assaulting two victims must be punished according to the law if they are found guilty. The charges imposing on them must be also thoroughly investigated as far as the victims alleged that they were not involved in any crime that the police accused of.
I further urge that there needs a mechanism to take legal or disciplinary action against police if it is found true that police have fabricated charges against innocent civilians by using his power. I finally urge that those responsible must be produced before the court in order to end ‘impunity’.
I look forward to hearing in this matter.
Yours sincerely,
—————-
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:
1. Mr. Victor Perera
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk
2. Mr. C.R. De Silva
Attorney General
Attorney General’s Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: attorney@sri.lanka.net
3. 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
4. Secretary
Human Rights Commission
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
Thank you.
Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)
