Political Prisoner Issue Threatens To Get Ugly

Political prisoners will be released in stages

by Easwaran Rutnam-Monday, November 09, 2015

Opposition leader and Tamil National Alliance (TNA)

Parliamentarian R. Sampanthan said last week that some Political prisoners will be
released in stages beginning tomorrow but not all are happy.
The Tamil political prisoners says they were given an assurance a majority of them,
who have not been charged for serious crimes, will be set free and not just a few of
them.
On Friday the Tamil political prisoners said that they will resume a fast unto death in
protest over the failure by the Government and the TNA to keep its word.
The prisoners had recently launched a fast demanding either to be released or cases
against them to be expedited.
President Maithripala Sirisena then gave them an assurance through the TNA and
Justice Minister Wijeydasa Rajapaksha that they will be freed by November 7
(yesterday).

A group of Tamil detainees were then presented to Court last week and most of them
were re-remanded after they refused to accept an offer to undergo rehabilitation.
Responsible parties
The detainees, who call themselves political prisoners but are not recognized as such
by the Government, said that the court, Government and Tamil National Alliance will
be held responsible for their lives if they are not freed unconditionally.
Tamil National Alliance parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran told Parliament last week
that there are over 200 political prisoners in the country.
He said that while the Government does not recognize these people as political
prisoners, most of them are political prisoners.
Sumanthiran also recalled that President Maithripala Sirisena had given the prisoners
an assurance that they will be released by November 7.
However the MP said there was no progress to be seen and the Government must act
fast.
Those who rejected the offer to undergo rehabilitation said that President Maithripala
Sirisena, the Prisons Commissioner and parliamentarian M.A. Sumanthiran will need
to take responsibility if any harm comes to their lives.
Sampanthan then had a meeting last Thursday with the Government and he said that
32 of the prisoners will be released tomorrow and another 30 on November 20.
But, the Tamil political prisoners feel they have been deceived by the Government and
are threatening to resume their agitation.
The Tamil political prisoners have been in jail for several years and most of them have
not been charged or have been accused of minor offences under the Prevention of
Terrorism Act (PTA).
The new Government had said that it will replace the PTA with another law but added
that replacing the PTA will not automatically mean that all those arrested under the
PTA will be set free.
Tom Malinowski, Assistant Secretary, Bureau of Democracy, Human Rights, and
Labor, during his recent visit to Sri Lanka, had said that the US recognizes the efforts
being taken by the Sri Lankan Government to address the human rights issue and will
not set a deadline to see results.
However, he said that at the same time there are some immediate issues which the
Government can address including releasing political prisoners.

He also said that in the past, the failure to meet commitments on the human rights
issue had undermined confidence in a domestic process.
If this Government does the same then the end result will be no different from the
past. Tamil United Liberation Front (TULF) Secretary General V. Anandasangaree said
that there must be a fixed term of imprisonment as punishment for any offence and
that cant be more then 20 years for any offence in the penal code (Exclusive of fines)
and if they had been detained for 20 years obviously they are over punished.
He urged the President to select a modern building in one of the prisons with all
facilities and have all those prisoners transferred to that building under one set of
officers, provide them all facilities that they are entitled to, to make them more
comfortable, select a few retired judges both male and female and form a few panels to
inquire each case and to release them accordingly, ensure that the panels are
empowered to deal with them and recommend their release an also ensure that the
complicated cases if any can be dealt with by senior lawyers or judges and recommend
for release without any punishment since they had already served 20 years in jail .
CaFFE intervention
The Campaign for Free and fair Election (CaFFE) believes that Sri Lanka cant become
a nation with a rule of law until the PTA is abolished as it has the same suppressive
powers of the emergency laws which were lifted in 2011.
Rajith Keerthi Tennakoon, the Executive Director of CaFFE said that the PTA
effectively makes all the provisions of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR) invalid.
What is more concerting is the fact that PTA has now become a part of Sri Lankan
laws.
While emergency laws had to be extended monthly, thus being easy to lift, abolishing
the PTA needs more concerted efforts.
In addition emergency laws can be convoked under the PTA, for example the PTA
allows the ban of certain organizations and allows extended detention of persons, he
said.
CaFFE says it witnessed with dismay of the detention of Jeyakumari Balendran and
Ruki Fernando last year, the extended detention of journalist J. S. Tissainayagam in
2008 and arrest of politician Azath Salley in 2013 under the PTA.
It is because of the profound understanding of the fear and suppression it can unleash
according to the whims of the government, that we have been consistent with our
demands for abolishing the PTA.

If it is not possible to repeal the PTA immediately, at least steps should be taken to
remove the most harmful aspects of the PTA, including Part II, III and V.
After the January 8 Presidential election was over, a number of Civil Society
Organizations (CSO) from the North, especially those who deal with missing persons,
called for the repeal of PTA.
However CSOs from the South stated that it will be harmful for the electoral prospects
of the Government if they repeal the PTA right before a General Election.
Tennakoon says after a significant electoral victory the time has now come for the
government to repeal the PTA and it is the responsibility of the CSOs to lobby the
Government.
Posted by Thavam