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Reporters Without Borders is relieved that the eight SriLankaMirror and SriLankaXNews journalists and an office assistant arrested on 29 June were released the next day by Judge Kosala Senadheera of C...

One of the reactions to the earlier article, SRI LANKA: Defending the nation’s internal security, is “What’s wrong? The military has come to stay.” What is chilling is that it app...

In the previous article we discussed about the Ministry of Defense as the most important social institution of the country, next to the executive presidency and that the justification for this in ti...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a 17-year old boy was physically and sexually assaulted by intoxicated police officers at Pallama Police Station fo...

Basil Fernando In a previous article, SRI LANKA: The Supremacy of the national security apparatus, we discussed the issue of the Ministry of Defence being the most important institution in Sri Lanka,...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Meheran, a married man with two children, was arbitrarily arrested, detained and tortured for a crime that he d...

In the previous article SRI LANKA: Can the idea of nationalism be separated from the idea of justice? I discussed the idea that the state that exists in Sri Lanka now is a national security state. T...

According to reports the office of a well-known online daily newspaper based in Colombo, Sri Lanka is currently being raided. The raid is being conducted by dozens of security officers of the Ministry...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Jayasinghe, an agricultural labourer, was visited by police officers at his residence and assaulted without cau...

Dr. Devaka Weerakoon, Media Spokesman/FUTA FUTA is dismayed by the statements issued by the University Grants Commission (UGC) and the CVCD (Committee of Vice Chancellors and Directors) on the trade u...

Perhaps one of the words that is most misused in the 20th Century is the word ‘nationalism’. Sri Lanka is no exception to this. Can the idea of a nation be separated from the idea of the s...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that Mr. Thusitha Ratnayake (37) of 4th Yaya, Rajanganaya in the Anuradhapura District was illegally arrested, detained ...

Dear friends, The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that on 20 May 2012, M.D. Kalum Priyanath, a disabled labourer, went to a local temple to help a monk run an errand. At ...

NfR Sri Lanka, a network of Sri Lankan journalists and human rights defenders condemns the blocking of five tamil language news websites which report on Sri Lanka. In a situation where print and elect...

Full text of the speech delivered by Nilantha Ilangamuwa at the event jointly organised by the Asian Human Rights Commission and the University of Hong Kong on Freedom of Expression and torture preven...

A few decades ago, Sri Lanka’s criminal justice system was organised on the basis of the Penal Code, the Criminal Procedure Code and the departmental orders of the police. The Penal Code defines...

We reproduce below the section on Sri Lanka from the Report of the Special Rapporteur on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression, Frank La Rue. The Report was su...

In the public discussions recently, particularly on the occasion of erecting a statue for Baratha Lakshman Premachandra, there has been several references to the need for electoral reforms. Even the L...

From 24 to 48 – lengthening hours and pruning freedom In March, Aruna Roshantha (42), a labourer at a brick factory in Mugunuwatawana, Chilaw, resting near his brick kiln during his lunch break was ...

A Joint Press Release by ACAT France and the Asian Legal Resource Centre (ALRC) (Hong Kong, June 26, 2012) Paris — Hong Kong, 26 June 2012. On June 26th, the International Day in Support of Vict...