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UPDATE (Sri Lanka): A journalist is receiving death threats from police after his torture and arrest on false charges

October 2, 2009

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

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Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAU-029-2009



2 October 2009

[RE: UAC-007-2008 SRI LANKA: Alleged torture and fabrication of charges against a journalist by Kalpitiya police and UAU-037-2008 SRI LANKA: No investigation into torture of a journalist after one year].

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SRI LANKA: A journalist is receiving death threats from police after his torture and arrest on false charges

ISSUES: Torture; police; freedom of expression; rule of law
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Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that the life of a journalist who has been twice arrested, tortured and remanded on tenuous charges, is in danger. Senake Ekanayake has complained to the National Human Rights Commission, the National Police Commission, the President and the Inspector General of Police about his illegal arrest and torture by the Kalpitya Police, and his illegal arrest by the Galkiriyagama Police. He has started to receive death threats both anonymously and from police officers, and men in a white van have called late at night at his house a number of times to ask for him. The victim is receiving no protection, and is in hiding.

UPDATED INFORMATION:

Last year the AHRC issued details on the case of Mahanuwara Rajawasala Ratnayaka Mahanilamelage Isiwara Senaka Ekanayake, a journalist who was arrested while trying to investigate a case implicating a senior police officer, then severely beaten, tortured and eventually robbed by officer's drunken colleagues (UAC-007-2008 and UAU-037-2008). Since his release on bail in December 2007, Senaka Ekanayake has reported continual harassment from police officers while having to appear to the courts each month for framed charges. According to our sources the harassment reached a crescendo in late 2008 when he was arrested on more false charges by Galkiriyagama Police, on suspicion in relation to a political assassination (Kekirawa Magistrate's Court, case BR644/08). He was kept in remand in Anurandhapura prison and released on bail just one month ago.

To protest both the false charges and his torture in custody – which left him with numerous injuries and without three of his teeth – the journalist has been seeking redress from the National Human Rights Commission (complaint HRD341/08, and a second letter 18/09/09)), the National Police Commission (in letters dated 24/01/08 and 29/05/09) and from the President (29/04/09, replied to by the President's assistant). Various letters have come back to him from the recipients, assuring him that inquiries are being made, but none have materialized. Instead of finding remedy the victim has been forced into hiding between court appearances. Death threats have been reaching him by phone and at home in Monaragala.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

As a journalist Senaka Ekanayake knows that his fears are well founded. His peers are threatened, intimidated, kidnapped, beaten and even assassinated in events that appear increasingly state sanctioned, as the AHRC has noted in various past statements and appeals, such as: 'Journalist attacked – a civil society organisation threatened and a provocative campaign against freedom of expression continues' and 'The law is a dangerous thing'. 

As a person taking a case against the police, he in even graver danger. Sri Lankans such as Gerald Perera and Sugath Nishanta Fernando have been assassinated in recent years for following through with cases against officers, despite threats, intimidation and bribery. With no witness protection bill and a police system widely considered to be mired in corruption, the state can offer little hope or security for such men, or the protection of their right to a fair trial.

Under both domestic and international law the government of Sri Lanka is responsible for securing the safety of Mahanuwara Rajawasala Ratnayaka Mahanilamelage Isiwara Senaka Ekanayake while his cases are underway, ensuring that his trial is fair and that his complaints are adequately filed and investigated. The officers charged with his false arrest and torture should be interdicted, according to the establishment code (for all state offices) and departmental orders (for police). Should their illegal conduct be proven they must be charged accordingly, and the victim provided with compensation and all necessary protection. The National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission should also be actively exercising their mandates to ensure all of the above.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write to the authorities below, asking for them to thoroughly investigate the threats being made against Senaka Ekanayake, while providing him with protection, and to ensure a fair trial for him regarding the current charges he faces.

Please be informed that the AHRC has sent a letter to the UN Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture and on the promotion and protection of the right to freedom of opinion and expression requesting intervention in this case.

To support this appeal please click here:

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SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear __________,

SRI LANKA: A journalist is receiving death threats from police after his torture and arrest on false charges

Name of victim: Mahanuwara Rajawasala Ratnayaka Mahanilamelage Isiwara Senaka Ekanayake (usually known as 'Senaka Ekanayake'); journalist; former editor of SATANA.

Names of alleged perpetrators:
1. Officer-in-Charge (OIC) Lakshman Ranwalarachchi
2. Sub Inspector Arawin
3. Police Constable Sunil (no. 12601)
4. Police Constable Dhammika (no. 33446)
5. Sergeant Indunil (no. 24011)
All staff at Kalpitiya police station in 2008
6. Officer Prasanna Walikala
7. Sub Inspector Wanasingha
Both of the Galkiriyagama Police station, and alleged to have fabricated a set of charges, along with other officers.

Place of incident: Kalpitiya police station, Wanathawilluwa Dist. Chilaw Division, North Western Range; Galkiriyagama Police Station, Anuradhapura district, North Central Range; Anuradhapura remand prison; and the victim's neighbourhood, Monaragala.
Date of incident: From 24 March 2007 until the present

I am writing to voice my deep concern regarding death threats being made by police officers against a journalist, who has been twice arrested, tortured and remanded on tenuous charges, and is complaining accordingly. I hear that lately men in a white van have been calling late at night at his house to ask for him, yet the victim is receiving no state protection and is in hiding.

Senaka Ekanayake is seeking redress for his illegal arrest and torture by the allegedly drunken colleagues of Kalapitya OIC, Mr. Lakshman Ranwalarachchi (whom the journalist was investigating in 2007), and for almost a year in remand for falsely laid charges by the Galkiriyagama Police. He has reported continual harassment from police officers since his first release on bail in December 2007.

To protest both the false charges and his torture in custody – which left him with numerous injuries and without three of his teeth – Senaka Ekanayake has been seeking redress from the National Human Rights Commission (complaint HRD341/08, and a second letter 18/09/09)), the National Police Commission (in letters dated 24/01/08 and 29/05/09), to the President (29/04/09, replied to by the President's assistant). Various letters have come back to him from the recipients, assuring him that inquiries are being made, but none have materialized. Instead of finding remedy I hear that the victim has been forced into hiding between court appearances. Death threats have been reaching him by phone and at home in Monaragala.

As a journalist Senaka Ekanayake knows that his fears are well founded. His peers are threatened, intimidated, kidnapped, beaten and even assassinated in incidents that appear increasingly state sanctioned. As someone fighting police corruption, he in even graver danger. Sri Lankans such as Gerald Perera and Sugath Nishanta Fernando have been assassinated in recent years for following through with cases against officers, despite threats, intimidation and bribery, yet Sri Lankans such as these are simply requesting their legal rights.

I would like to remind you that under both domestic and international law the government of Sri Lanka is responsible for securing the safety of of Mahanuwara Rajawasala Ratnayaka Mahanilamelage Isiwara Senaka Ekanayake while his cases are underway, ensuring that his trial is fair and that his complaints are adequately filed and investigated. The officers charged with his false arrest and torture should be temporarily removed from service, according to the procedural code. Should their illegal conduct be proven they must be charged accordingly, and the victim provided with compensation and all necessary protection. The National Human Rights Commission and the National Police Commission should also be exercising their mandates to ensure all of the above.

I look forward to hearing of your action in this case

Yours sincerely,


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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1
Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 11 2446657

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

Mr. Mohan Peiris
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421

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

Secretary, Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka,
No 108 Barnes Place
Colombo 07
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 11 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 11 2 694 924 / 696 470
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Update
Document ID :
AHRC-UAU-029-2009
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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.