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SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and detention of three men

October 21, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-232-2008

21 October 2008
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SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and detention of three men

ISSUES: Arbitrary arrest and detention; state of emergency
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received two cases regarding arbitrary arrest and detention of three men by police without orders from the court. A young man has been detained for over three months without being produced before the court and two men, one of whom is a member of political organisation, were arrested also without orders from the court.

CASE DETAILS:

Case 1:

Velu Dena Dayalan (aged 26) is a resident of Jaffna, Sri Lanka. In April, 2008, he journeyed to Kandy to apply for a passport and stayed with his stepsister, Velukalayivani.

Fearing abduction by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE), he decided to remain in Kandy until the authorities approved his passport application and he could leave the country. However, on 8 July 2008, some officers attached to the Kandy Police Terrorist Investigation Department (TID), in wearing civilian clothes arrived at his sister's house in the Hantana district. They asked Dayalan to accompany them to the police station to make a statement. At the station, he was arrested and held in custody. Velukalayivani was also questioned for three days.

Already three months have passed since his incarceration and Dayalan has never been produced before court. Neither he nor his family has been told under what charges he is being held, or why he is in custody. The police have allowed his sister and her family to visit him twice a week, but they may only speak to him in the presence of police officers and in Sinhalese, a language Dayalan's sister cannot speak. Thus, they have no way to ascertain the truth of his situation, whether he has been tortured, or how he is being treated. The police, moreover, are carefully noting and scrutinizing any visitors and, thus, his sister fears going to the police station to see him. 

Case 2:

The Negombo police arrested Velummailum Kamalthasan, a member of Socialist Equality Party (SEP) and his brother-in-law Santhiralingam on September 15 as they were preparing to travel to Colombo by bus. They were ordered out of the bus then taken to the police station, despite having produced police registration documents to verify their identity.

During their detention in the police custody, the police refused to release them their claiming that further inquiries into their possible connection to the LTTE was necessary. However, the police failed to provide concrete evidence that support reasonable grounds for their arrest and failed to show the detention order for the two men.

Mr. Somasiri Liyanage, Negombo Head Quarters Inspector claimed on September 21 that the police had obtained a three-month detention order for the two men but when being asked, the police failed to present the order. Police released the two men on September 23 as investigations had been completed and no evidence of "suspicious activities" had been found.

SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please write letters to the authorities listed below urging them to promptly bring Dayalan to the court and investigate this case.

The AHRC has also written separate letters to the UN working group on arbitrary detention calling for intervention in this case.

To support this appeal, please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear _________,

SRI LANKA: Arbitrary arrest and detention of three men

Case 1:
Details of case: Velu Dena Dayalan, 26, was arrested by Kandy police Terrorist Investigation Department on July 8 and has been detained in Kandy police custody over three months without being produced before a court; no charges have been given; currently held in Kandy police custody

Case 2:
Details of case: Velummailum Kamalthasan, a member of Socialist Equality Party and his brother-in-law Snathiralingam were arrested on September 15 and detained in Negombo police custody without orders from the court and released on September 23

I am writing to voice my deep concerns regarding the arbitrary arrest and detention of three men by the police respectively without concrete evidence and orders from the court, which, in fact, has taken place in nationwide in Sri Lanka.

According to the information that I have received, Velu Dena Dayalan who stayed in Jaffna came to Kandy in April with all his documents due to the fear of being abducted and stayed in his sister but on July 8, some officers attached to the Kandy Police Terrorist Investigation Department asked him to accompany to the police station and when arrived, he was arrested and held in custody. However, until now, he has never been produced before a court nor has he and his family been told the charges and the reasons of his being held.

I am also informed that the Negombo police arrested Kamalthasan, a member of Socialist Equality Party and his brother-in-law Ilancheliyan for possible connection to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) on September 15 and detained them in the police custody without concrete evidence. When being asked, the police failed to present the order of detention from the court and they released the two on September 23 saying that investigations had been completed and no evidence of 'suspicious activities' had been found.

Two cases show how the police fail to abide by the law, in particular the Penal Code by arbitrarily arresting and detaining them without warrant from the Magistrate's court and producing them before the court. When the police arrest a person, they shall inform, at the time of arrest, the reason for arrest and promptly any charges against him. In addition, anyone arrested or detained shall be brought promptly before the court. However, Velu Dena Dayalan has been detained for over three months without being brought before the court.

I therefore, urge you to investigate the cases of arbitrary arrest and detention of three men so that those responsible are properly prosecuted and punished according to law. I also urge you to promptly inform any charges against Dayalan and if fails, he must be released. I further urge you to compensate for their illegal arrest and detention.

Finally, I take this opportunity to remind the Government of Sri Lanka of the need to review the cases of arrestees and detainees who have been in violation of criminal procedure and without charge or trial since the state of emergency.

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 11 268 1982

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-232-2008
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.