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Next Monday, 10 August 2015, the body of the well-known rugby player and Havelock’s Captain, Wasim Thajudeen, will be exhumed on the orders of the Colombo Additional Magistrate. The Magistrate made ...

A Statement from the Friday Forum forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission The country is about to face another decisive Parliamentary election shaping our political future. The Friday Forum wis...

Yesterday, the CID filed a report at the Magistrates Court of Colombo, seeking to re-open criminal proceedings regarding the alleged murder of the rugby player Wasim Thajudeen. Wasim, who was a well k...

The Prime Minister’s announcement for the need of a new constitution, one that will be in keeping with those found in developed countries, is quite welcome. The 1978 Sri Lankan Constitution is primi...

The Asian Human Rights Commission reproduces below the full text of a circular issued on 3rd July 2015 by the Director General of Police of our neighbouring Indian state of Kerala. It announces a his...

These are crucial days for the selection and submission of party candidates for the forthcoming Parliamentary Elections to be held on 17th August 2015. This is a moment at which the nation has the ri...

On 23 June 2015, the Negombo High Court judge M.Z. Razeen found Sub Inspector Suresh Gunaratne and one of his assistants guilty of murdering Gerald Mervin Perera in November 2004. The two policemen ha...

An article from The Sunday Times, Colombo forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena As the year winds to its mid-term, the January 2015 consensus for a better Sri Lan...

by Basil Fernando Problem There has been much discussion on violence as a result of cultural, ethnic, religious, social, and economic factors, but hardly any on violence caused by failures of the just...

( June 16, 2015 – Hong Kong ) We are sharing with you, the most recent publication of the AHRC, entitled: Deterioration of the Legal Intellect in Sri Lanka – A Miraculous Cure is Possible. I...

By Basil Fernando In this series of short essays I have attempted to demonstrate the terrible situation of institutions of justice- police, prosecutors and the judiciary- through some samples. I have ...

by Basil Fernando In this article, the “justice system” refers to the police, the prosecution (Attorney General’s Department), and the judicial institutions, as separate entities and as a collec...

by Kishali Pinto-Jayawardena On the 9th of January 2015, the people of Sri Lanka astounded themselves and many others in the world. An authoritarian ruling family cabal which had ruthlessly stripped ...

by Basil Fernando Rita, a rape victim visited the Magistrates Court 24 times between 2001 and 2004. Then, the case was referred to the Attorney General for the filing of indictment. The visits she mad...

By Basil Fernando The rape and murder of a 17-year-old schoolgirl two weeks ago, has given rise to the biggest protest seen in North in recent times. The police have announced that 9 persons have been...

Gabriel Garcia Marquez once spoke of Fidel Castro as a person “incapable of conceiving any idea that is not colossal”. During the last few months in Sri Lanka too there has been an interest in col...

by Basil Fernando A young man, then 18 years old, filed a communication on 28th January 2003, about an incident that took place on 18th April 2002. The UNHRC came to a finding on 14th July 2006. The...

by Kishali Pinto Jayawardene For those of us privileged, (if I may be forgiven the sarcasm), to witness the live Parliamentary telecast of Tuesday’s committee stage process on the 19th Amendment, th...

බාගෙට හැදූ නිවසක් තුළ පට්ටානි රසීක්ගේ මළ සිරුර වළ දැමීම බැසිල් ප‍්‍රනා�...

by Basil Fernando  The discovery of the body of Pattini Razeek buried under a half-built private house, in a remote village on Uddamaveli, in Valaichchenai, would have flared up the imagination of an...