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SRI LANKA: Disappearance of FORUM-ASIA Executive Committee Member Pattani Razeek - prime suspect has not been arrested

February 25, 2011

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Update: AHRC-UAU-011-2011

 

25 February 2011

[RE: Forwarded Urgent Appeal: AHRC- FUA-002-2010: SRI LANKA: Disappearance of Mr. Pattani Razeek, Executive Committee Member of FORUM-ASIA]
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SRI LANKA: Disappearance of FORUM-ASIA Executive Committee Member Pattani Razeek - prime suspect has not been arrested

ISSUES: Disappearance; human rights defenders; impunity; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received updated information that Mr. Pattani Razeek a well known human rights defender both locally and internationally has been missing since 11 February 2010. The relatives have made complaints to all the relevant authorities including the United Nations. They have provided enough credible evidence to identify the perpetrators of the disappearance but the police have failed to arrest the suspect. The case in the Magistrate's Court of Puttalam is pending without any development due to the defects in the police investigations. The AHRC has called upon the Sri Lankan government to ensure a prompt, impartial and efficient police investigation into the case and bring the perpetrators before justice. The AHRC further urges the State of Sri Lanka to ensure efficient judicial action into the case. (Please see our original forwarded appeal for further information: AHRC- FUA-002-2010).

UPDATED INFORMATION:

Mr. Pattani Razeek of No. 70, Sameeragama, Kottantivu, Puttalam, Sri Lanka was a well known human rights defender in Sri Lanka and Asia. At the time of his disappearance, Mr. Razeek was the Managing Trustee of the Community Trust Fund (CTF) and was an Executive Committee Member of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).

 

 

Mr. Razeek has been missing since he was apparently abducted on 11 February 2010 in the town of Polonnaruwa, North Central Province in Sri Lanka. He may have been the victim of an enforced disappearance. The state authorities have not shown any interest in either investigating or arresting the main suspect in the case despite credible evidence being provided by the relatives. It is believed that this failure is due to the influence of powerful politician in the area.

 

Mr. Razeek was last seen near the Jumma Mosque in Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa (a town in the North‐Central Province of Sri Lanka) at around 3.30 p.m on 11 February 2010. Mr. Razeek was in a van together with other staff of CTF, when their van was intercepted by a white van. Mr. Razeek alighted from their vehicle, approached the men in the white van and exchanged greetings in Arabic with them, indicating that the men are Muslim. After talking to them for some minutes, Mr. Razeek went back to his colleagues and told them that he will be joining the group in the white van which according to him was heading to the Eastern provincial town of Valaichchenai. He has not been seen or heard from since.

 

Mr. Razeek's family lodged complaints with the Police in Pollonnaruwa (place of incident), and Mundalama (place of residence) Mr. Razeek's employer. The CTF lodged complaints with the police in Puttalam (place of employer, CTF) and Pollonnaruwa. A complaint has also been lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Appeals have been made to the President of Sri Lanka, Secretary to Ministry of Defense, the Attorney General and Inspector General of Police, none of which have been acted upon. The relatives and general public in the district of Puttalam arranged protests, and poster campaigns.

 

Complaints have been sent to UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. Further, appeals have been issued by many international human rights organizations seeking prompt and impartial investigations into the case.

 

Following the complaint and continuous requests by the relatives of Razeek, the police have filed a case in the Magistrate's Courts in Puttalam. Though the case has been called on several occasions the police have failed to arrest any suspect and produce him before the court.

 

Relatives stated that the coordinator of the Minister Hon. Rishad Bathirudeen, Mr. S. R. M. Irashad made a public statement, following Mr. Razeek's disappearance, claiming that Mr. Razeek was an intermediary to the transfer of funds from CIA to the LTTE at sometime in the past and that Mr. Razeek was being detained in the custody of the Defense Secretary.

 

The Police B report indicates that Mr. Shabdeen Nowshadh, a former employee of CTF and a close associate of a powerful minister of the area, is a key suspect in the disappearance. Police have evidence that Nowshadh made a call from Mr. Razeek's mobile phone number to his residence shortly after the disappearance of Mr. Razeek.

 

Nowshadh had made an application for 'Anticipatory Bail' which was rejected on 23rd June 2010 and he applied for a revision in the High Court Puttalam. Another hearing date of the revision held on 10 February. Further while in police interrogations Mr. Nowsaadh confirmed that he had met Mr. Razeek on the day and in the area in which Mr. Razeek was last seen.

 

The relatives states that though there is enough credible evidence regarding the case of disappearance of Mr. Razeek the authorities are not taking action to question or arrest Mr. Nowsadh due to his political connections. Even before the judge of the High Court Mr. Nawsadh boasted that he is a close acquaintance of "a powerful minister" who needed him for election and other work. Nowsadh had been seen in public places several times since this was disclosed in mid 2010.

 

This is an appalling situation that calls into question the lackadaisical attitude of the Sri Lankan government towards the disappearances of anyone suspected of being an embarrassment to the regime in power. In the recent past there have been hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance which were reported Island wide. The relatives of the victims are urging the government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations to intervene and instigate prompt, efficient, impartial and transparent investigations into these cases. Further they have asked that the perpetrators are brought before the court and tried under the rule of law system.

 

The government is culpable in that it is not investigating this case of an enforced disappearance despite sufficient evidence being provided. It is therefore evident that the state of Sri Lanka must bear responsibility for the continued disappearances which are a result of their policies and procedures. This is a typical scenario in Sri Lanka that If the perpetrators are aware that no investigations will be conducted they will not hesitate to continue their illegal actions.

 

All these cases have threatened the lives of the citizen of a country in which the state does not ensure that the practice of enforced disappearance is halted. Further as we have observed that many reported case of torture and ill-treatment, either at the hands of the police or other government forces frequently end with the practice of enforced disappearance to ensure that no evidence is found.

 

For further details please refer to the earlier Forwarded Urgent Appeal: Forwarded Urgent Appeal: AHRC- FUA-002-2010

SRI LANKA: Disappearance of Mr. Pattani Razeek, Executive Committee Member of FORUM-ASIA.

 

SUGGESTED ACTION:

 

The Asian Human Rights Commission urges you to insist the Inspector General of Police of Sri Lanka to take all necessary and appropriate measures to investigated the case of disappearance of Mr. Razeek and arrested the perpetrators must be brought to book to stop recurrence of similar incidents.

 

Please note that the AHRC has written special letters to the UN Special Rapporture on Human Rights Defenders seeking his intervention on this regard.

 

To support this appeal, please click here:

 

 

SAMPLE LETTER:

 

 

Dear ________,

 

SRI LANKA: Disappearance of FORUM-ASIA Executive Committee Member Pattani Razeek - prime suspect has not been arrested

 

 

Name of the Victim:

Mr. Pattani Razeek of No. 70, Sameeragama, Kottantivu, Puttalam, Sri Lanka

Alleged Perpetrators:

Mr. Shabdeen Nowshadh

Date of latest incident:

11 February, 2010

Place of incident:

Polonnaruwa North Central Province

 

I would like to raise my serious concerns on the further information that I have received in the case of Mr. Pattani Razeek of No. 70, Sameeragama, Kottantivu, Puttalam. Mr. Razeek was a well known human rights defender in Sri Lanka and Asia. At the time of his disappearance, he was the Managing Trustee of the Community Trust Fund (CTF) and was an Executive Committee Member of the Asian Forum for Human Rights and Development (FORUM-ASIA).

 

Mr. Razeek has been missing since he was apparently abducted on 11 February 2010 in the town of Polonnaruwa, North Central Province in Sri Lanka. He may have been the victim of an enforced disappearance. The state authorities have not shown any interest in either investigating or arresting the main suspect in the case despite credible evidence being provided by the relatives. It is believed that this failure is due to the influence of powerful politician in the area.

 

Mr. Razeek was last seen near the Jumma Mosque in Kaduruwela, Polonnaruwa (a town in the North‐Central Province of Sri Lanka) at around 3.30 p.m on 11 February 2010. Mr. Razeek was in a van together with other staff of CTF, when their van was intercepted by a white van. Mr. Razeek alighted from their vehicle, approached the men in the white van and exchanged greetings in Arabic with them, indicating that the men are Muslim. After talking to them for some minutes, Mr. Razeek went back to his colleagues and told them that he will be joining the group in the white van which according to him was heading to the Eastern provincial town of Valaichchenai. He has not been seen or heard from since.

 

Mr. Razeek's family lodged complaints with the Police in Pollonnaruwa (place of incident), and Mundalama (place of residence) Mr. Razeek's employer. The CTF lodged complaints with the police in Puttalam (place of employer, CTF) and Pollonnaruwa. A complaint has also been lodged with the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Appeals have been made to the President of Sri Lanka, Secretary to Ministry of Defense, the Attorney General and Inspector General of Police, none of which have been acted upon. The relatives and general public in the district of Puttalam arranged protests, and poster campaigns.

 

Complaints have been sent to UN Special Rapporteur on Human Rights Defenders and UN Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances. Further, appeals have been issued by many international human rights organizations seeking prompt and impartial investigations into the case.

 

Following the complaint and continuous requests by the relatives of Razeek, the police have filed a case in the Magistrate's Courts in Puttalam. Though the case has been called on several occasions the police have failed to arrest any suspect and produce him before the court.

 

Relatives stated that the coordinator of the Minister Hon. Rishad Bathirudeen, Mr. S. R. M. Irashad made a public statement, following Mr. Razeek's disappearance, claiming that Mr. Razeek was an intermediary to the transfer of funds from CIA to the LTTE at sometime in the past and that Mr. Razeek was being detained in the custody of the Defense Secretary.

 

The Police B report indicates that Mr. Shabdeen Nowshadh, a former employee of CTF and a close associate of a powerful minister of the area, is a key suspect in the disappearance. Police have evidence that Nowshadh made a call from Mr. Razeek's mobile phone number to his residence shortly after the disappearance of Mr. Razeek.

 

Nowshadh had made an application for 'Anticipatory Bail' which was rejected on 23rd June 2010 and he applied for a revision in the High Court Puttalam. Another hearing date of the revision held on 10 February. Further while in police interrogations Mr. Nowsaadh confirmed that he had met Mr. Razeek on the day and in the area in which Mr. Razeek was last seen.

 

The relatives states that though there is enough credible evidence regarding the case of disappearance of Mr. Razeek the authorities are not taking action to question or arrest Mr. Nowsadh due to his political connections. Even before the judge of the High Court Mr. Nawsadh boasted that he is a close acquaintance of "a powerful minister" who needed him for election and other work. Nowsadh had been seen in public places several times since this was disclosed in mid 2010.

 

This is an appalling situation that calls into question the lackadaisical attitude of the Sri Lankan government towards the disappearances of anyone suspected of being an embarrassment to the regime in power. In the recent past there have been hundreds of cases of enforced disappearance which were reported Island wide. The relatives of the victims are urging the government of Sri Lanka and the United Nations to intervene and instigate prompt, efficient, impartial and transparent investigations into these cases. Further they have asked that the perpetrators are brought before the court and tried under the rule of law system.

 

The government is culpable in that it is not investigating this case of an enforced disappearance despite sufficient evidence being provided. It is therefore evident that the state of Sri Lanka must bear responsibility for the continued disappearances which are a result of their policies and procedures. This is a typical scenario in Sri Lanka that If the perpetrators are aware that no investigations will be conducted they will not hesitate to continue their illegal actions.

 

All these cases have threatened the lives of the citizen of a country in which the state does not ensure that the practice of enforced disappearance is halted. Further as we have observed that many reported case of torture and ill-treatment, either at the hands of the police or other government forces frequently end with the practice of enforced disappearance to ensure that no evidence is found.

 

I request your urgent intervention to ensure that the authorities listed below instigate an immediate investigation into the case of Mr. Pattani Razeek. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

 

Yours sincerely,

 

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

 

 

1. Mr. Mahinda Balasuriya

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

2. Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

3. Secretary
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 or polcom@sltnet.lk

4. 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@ahrc.asia)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
AHRC-UAU-011-2011
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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.