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SRI LANKA: Police allegedly torture a man and detain him for four months

October 10, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-225-2008

10 October 2008
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SRI LANKA: Police allegedly torture a man and detain him for four months

ISSUES: Torture; threats; right to liberty and security; illegal arrest and detention
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Dear Friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information regarding the illegal arrest and detention of a man in Kandy in May 2008 who was not produced before a court for four months. During detention the police tortured him to confess to being a terrorist.

CASE DETAILS: (Based on the testimony of the victims father Ramiah Pushpanadan)

On May 7, Mr. Ramiah Ruba Sandran was asked to come to the Balagolla Police Station, where   he was questioned and released. On May 10 he was again requested to come to the police station where he was held overnight before being released the following day. He was repeatedly questioned as to whether he was involved in terrorist activities. On May 13, on his way to work, officers attached to the Balagolla Police Station forced him into a cab and took him away.

On hearing about his abduction, his relatives went to the Balagolla police station where officers denied that he had been arrested. They returned the following day and were again told that Sandran had been arrested. When his relatives went to the police station the following day, now the third visit, they were told that he was being held in the Kandy Police Station. However, when they attended that police station his relatives were not permitted to see him.

Onn May 17, he was brought to his home in handcuffs. The accompanying officers searched the house for weapons during which time the family saw him being kicked and beaten by police officers, including Inspector of Police Nishantha, of the Kandy Police Station. The family also noted that the police were under the influence of liquor at the time. Finally, on May 19, his brother was allowed to see him but was ordered to speak only in Sinhala (the language, spoken by the majority ethnic group in the country).

On July 23, his brother, wife and 19-year-old daughter were asked to come to the Kandy Police Station. At the station, the wife and the daughter were taken into a room and made to stand in front of Sandran. The officers threatened that they would arrest his wife and daughter if he did not confess that he was a terrorist. The relatives stated that he appeared very pale and was crying. He was forbidden to speak about his torture.

It is reported that, during the entire period of his detention of 4 months, he had never been examined by a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO). He was produced before a court in the first week of September and subsequently detained at the Kandy Police Station. On September 19, he was arraigned before the Kandy Magistrate's court where his detention was extended until September 22. At the time of writing he is still in a police cell in the Kandy Police Station. His relatives are allowed to visit him on Wednesdays and Sundays. No charges have yet been laid against him.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

During the 1983 ethnic riots in the country, the family had left their home in Balagolla and taken refuge in Mankulam (North of Sri-Lanka) where they lived in a refugee camp. They returned in 1997 to Balagolla and Sandran started working as a casual laborer. They live in rooms of a former colonised estate. Sandran had employment as a labourer in a hardware shop in 2008.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the relevant authorities listed below urging them to investigate the illegal arrest, detention and torture of Ramiah Ruba Sandran.

Please be informed that the AHRC has written a separate letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture calling for an intervention in this matter.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: Police allegedly torture a man and detain him for four months

Name of victim: Mr. Ramiah Ruba Sandran, 43; labourer; married with 4 children--three daughters (19, 16 and 10) and one son (14); resident of 21/1, Balagolla, Kandy; currently detained at Kandy Police Station
Name of alleged perpetrators: Officers including Inspector of Police attached to Balagolla Police Station and Kandy Police Station
Date of incident: Since 13 May 2008
Place of incident: Balagolla Police Station, Kandy Dist. III, Kandy Division, Central Range (West); Kandy Police Station, Kandy Dist. I, Kandy Division, Central Range (West)

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding an illegal arrest, detention and torture of a man by the Balagolla police on May 13.

According to the information I have received, the Balagolla police first denied the illegal arrest and detention of Ramiah Ruba Sandran, but later informed his family on their third visit that the victim was in the Kandy Police Station on May 15. In the meantime, he was brought to his house where officers searched for weapons whilst under the influence of liquor. They assaulted him during the process on May 17.

I am informed that when his relatives were asked to come to the Kandy Police Station on July 23, his wife and daughter were taken into a room and made to stand in front of Ruba Sandran. Officers threatened that they would arrest his wife and daughter if he did not confess that he was a terrorist. His relatives stated that he appeared very pale and was crying, and that he was forbidden to speak about his torture.

Surprisingly, from the information that I have learned, he had never been examined by a Judicial Medical Officer (JMO) for the entire period of his detention of 4 months and was only produced before a Kandy Magistrate's court the first week of September. No charges have been made against him, but his detention order was renewed by the Magistrate.

Even though the police kept him in custody for several months, they failed to provide concrete evidence to prove he is a terrorist. Even worse, he had been detained for four months where he was allegedly tortured by the officers who also threatened the arrest of his family unless he confessed to being a terrorist. His relatives had not been properly informed about his arrest and detention due to the lack of administration of justice in the country.

I therefore urge you to conduct an immediate investigation into the illegal arrest, detention and torture of Ramiah Ruba Sandran so that those responsible are effectively prosecuted and punished according to the law. In order to prevent the relatives from suffering from the unknown whereabouts of the arrestees, the failure of administration of justice should be addressed as well.

Knowing that charges have not yet been laid against the victim, I also urge you to provide concrete evidence that can prove his involvement in a terrorist activity not solely depending on his confession while in the detention, but depending on real evidence. If this fails, the police should release him on the grounds that confession by torture shall not be used as evidence before a court. I further urge you to ensure that he is no longer tortured or ill treated by the police in the Kandy Police Station where he is currently being detained. To make it sure of this, I finally urge you to transport him to another place.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Professor Rajiva Wijesinha
Secretary
Ministry of Disaster Management and Human Rights
2, Wijerama Mawatha
Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 269 3284
E-mail: info@dmhr.gov.lk  

2. Mr. Jayantha Wickramaratne
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
E-mail: igp@police.lk

3. Chairperson
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. Mr. Hemantha Priyasanth Dep
Acting Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

5. 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)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-225-2008
Countries :
Issues :
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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.