Day: 28 November 2015

In two cases involving ships carrying Tamil refugees to Canada’s shores, the Supreme Court has ruled that federal immigration laws denying entry to human smugglers are unconstitutional. Those laws could be used to bar from Canada or prosecute anyone who performs a humanitarian act, including passengers helping one another or family members giving aid to their relatives, the court said in unanimous rulings written by Chief Justice Beverley McLachlin. And that is out of step with the laws’ stated purposes and Canada’s international obligations for refugee protection, she said. One…

Britain will give Sri Lanka £6.6m over three years to help the battle-scarred country continue its recovery from a long civil war. The money will be backed up by a non-resident defence attache and access to British armed forces training to help with military reform. The aid will also help people displaced from their towns and villages during the bloodshed to return home. READ MORE Tamils call for Sri Lankan President to be tried for war crimes Tamil leads Sri Lanka opposition for first time in 32 years Four Sri…

All schools in the Northern Provincial Council were closed on the directive of Provincial education authorities. However, several Sinhala medium schools remained open last morning, as such schools had not not been informed by the provincial authorities. The Provincial Education Ministry informed the school principals to keep their schools closed yesterday as the death of a school student in Jaffna may trigger tension in the province, This student committed suicide in Kokuvil, Jaffna on Thursday over the failure by the authorities to release all Tamil political prisoners. He committed suicide…

The Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) has written to Attorney General (AG) Y J Wijayatilake, conveying to him its grave concern about the rights of the detainees and remandees held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and the Emergency Regulations and called upon him to take necessary measures to ensure the protection of the rights of these detainees and remandees. The Commission has called for the immediate release of those held in detention or remand for a long period of time without charges and against whom there is no credible evidence. The Commission has further called…

by Saman Indrajith Justice Minister Wijeyadasa Rajapakshe, PC, yesterday said the government wouldn’t release those who had been convicted on terrorism charges. He stressed that those who had been charged in courts, too, wouldn’t released. The President’s Counsel was responding to an allegation that the release of hardcore LTTE terrorists would pose a serious threat to national security. Addressing the media at the Parliamentary complex, MP Rajapakse said that among the LTTE cadres in custody were 56 found guilty of committing offences listed under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).…