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SRI LANKA: Death in prison custody of illegally arrested man; second man seriously injured

July 6, 2006

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ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

7 July 2006
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UA-221-2006: SRI LANKA:  Death in prison custody of illegally arrested man; second man seriously injured

SRI LANKA: Illegal detention; torture by state officers; un-rule of law
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Dear friends, 

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has learned that M.S.F. Perera who was allegedly tortured by prison guards at Kuruwita Remand Prison has succumbed to his injuries at the National Hospital in Colombo on 6 July 2006.  He was arrested on mistaken identity on the allegation of making bomb threats by telephone.  Another man, Mr. L.G. Munaweera was also arrested and later tortured.  He is still taking treatment. We urge you to intervene to ask for urgent and thorough inquiry into the death of this victim and into the entire incident of the torture of both persons.  We urge immediate prosecution of the offenders.  And further that you express your concern about the Sri Lankan government's complete reluctance to eliminate torture in the country despite of it being a state party to the ICCPR as well as the CAT. 

Mudalige Sunil Fermin Perera , a 55-year-old man residing in 55 1/A Pitakotte Kott, died to injuries received as a result of torture he allegedly suffered while in prison custody and another man namely Linton Gamini Munaweera, who was arrested along with M.S.F.Perera, was severely insured. On 28 June 2006, the two men mentioned above were arrested by Ratnapura Police on the information supplied by the Vice Principal of Mihindu College, Ratnapura which is about 90 km south-east of the capital Colombo, regarding the bomb threat creating a false alarm in the College.

The two men were taken in by the Ratnapura Police at midnight on June 28 and produced before the Magistrate, Mr. N. V. Karunatileke, on the following day (June 29). They were remanded on the plaint filed by the Ratnapura Police. They were arrested due to the allegation that Linton had supposed to have made a telephone call delivering a message regarding bomb threats and causing a situation of fear among the school community. However, both men denied the charges. They were remanded at the Kuruwita Remand Prison.  After being jailed on June 29, the two men were severely tortured by the Jail Guards.

It is now alleged that the information was wrongly supplied by the Vice Principle of the School to the Police from a CLI record. The Police had depended on this version and arrested these two and remanded them without any foundation. Only later when they checked up with the Telecom and Dialogue, they found that the persons tortured had not given calls on that particular day and earlier they had taken some calls on account of a business deal of supplying balloons to some celebration in the College. This call had been misrepresented as the allege misdeed on June 28.  The Police in their motion had declared that they had already identified another person who had given the call.  Police Officer B. Solngarachchi submitted a motion on July 3 and wanted them released because they were innocent and that day they had not made any telephone calls from their cell to the Mihindu College.

Accordingly, on July 3, the Magistrate ordered both accusers to be released but this order was not executed by the Prison officials.  On July 4, the victims were brought before the Magistrate Court. The Magistrate noticed that Mr. M.S.F. Perera had problems walking and was escorted by the two jailors. As he was barely conscious, he given a seat. He was in fact severely tortured about the lower legs.  Furthermore, he was unable to say anything because of his condition. Then the second accused Linton Munaweera was asked to enter the box and then his lawyer Mr. Ben Abeyratne stated that his client was also tortured by the jail guards while in prison.

The Magistrate ordered that a statement be obtained from the Vice Principal and his inability to read the CLI records from the Telephone be further investigated.  The Magistrate noted the difference of the appearance of the first accused and when a relative requested that he be taken to the National Hospital, the Magistrate ordered the Police Post at the National Hospital to take a statement when he gained full consciousness.  Subsequently, the two men have made a report to the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka. Meanwhile, M.S.F. Perera has succumbed to his injuries at the National Hospital in Colombo on July 6.


SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please write a letter to the relevant authorities to demand that inquiries are made into the allegations of torture by the guards at the Kuruwita Remand Prison and that action be taken against the persons under the CAT Act, (Act No. 22 of 1994).

To support this appeal, please click:

Suggested letter:

Dear _________,

SRI LANKA: M.S.F. Perera tortured to death and another man named L.G. Munaweera seriously injured due to alleged torture at the Kuruwita Remand Prison

Name of the Victims:
1. Mudalige Sunil Fermin Perera of 55 1/A Pitakotte Kotte, aged 55, a father of three sons, the employee of Oxygen Company and made a living providing Helium balloons (killed)
2. Linton Gamini Munaweera of Makola, aged about 35, a father of two children (injured)
Alleged Perpetrators: Some prison guards of Kuruwita prison for torture and some officers of the Ratnapura police for illegal arrest
Date of incident: Illegally arrested on 28 June 2006 and allegedly tortured between June 28 and July 3.

I was shocked to learn of the brutal torture of Mudalige Sunil Fermin Perera leading to his death and that of Linton Gamini Munaweera who were arrested by the Ratnapura Police on false information of making bomb threats to the Mihindu College, Ratnapura and thereby causing panic. This information was soon found to be false.

After being produced before the Magistrate, they were both placed in the Kuruwita Remand Prison where they were allegedly tortured brutally by their guards.  The police conducted inquiries and found that neither of the men could have been responsible for the bomb threat phone calls and Police Officer B. Solngarachchi submitted a motion for their release on July 3. Accordingly the Magistrate ordered both accused to be released but this order was not executed by the prison officials. Finally on July 4, the two men were brought before the Magistrate again and on that occasion he ordered them to be transferred to the Colombo National Hospital.

The police were wrong in making an arrest without proper information.  I therefore urge you to order an investigation into the brutal death of M.S.F. Perera at the hands of remand prison guards and the prosecution of the culprits.  The conduct of both the police and the prison guards need to be reviewed and proper rules of conduct need to be established.  I also ask for compensation for the family of the deceased torture victim.  The surviving victim should be provided with proper medical attention and compensation for his injuries.

Having repeatedly heard of cases of torture including ones leading to death from Sri Lanka, I express my serious shock at the Sri Lankan government's indifference on this issue.  The high ranking officers of the state including the Commissioner of Prisons should take full responsibility for this death and the torture. I also hope that all other authorities will take appropriate action to stop the continuing torture by the Sri Lankan police, military and prison authority.
 
Thank you.

Yours sincerely,


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SEND YOUR LTEETERS TO:

1. Mr. Chandra Fernando
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440/327877
Email: chandralaw@police.lk

2. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 436421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net

3. Secretary
Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
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

4. 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: polcom@sltnet.lk

5. Mr. Mahinda Rajapakse
President
Socialist Democratic Republic of Sri Lanka
C/- Office of the President
Temple Trees
150, Galle Road
Colombo 3
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2472100 / +94 11 2446657 (this is contact for Secretary to President) 
Email: secretary@presidentsoffice.lk

6. Prof. Manfred Nowak
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
Attn: Mr. Safir Syed
C/o OHCHR-UNOG
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Tel: +41 22 917 9230
Fax: +41 22 9179016 (general)
E-mail: ssyed@ohchr.org, tb-petitions@ohchr.org


Thank you.

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

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-221-2006
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.