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SRI LANKA: A man suffers from serious head injuries after being tortured by police officers

September 21, 2003

URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION URGENT ACTION

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION - URGENT APPEALS PROGRAM

22 September 2003

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UA-52-2003: SRI LANKA: A man suffers from serious head injuries after being tortured by police officers


SRI LANKA: Illegal arrest and detention; Torture
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Dear friends

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) has received information that a man named Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal suffered serious head injuries after the police officers of the Udugama Police Station severely tortured him. I urge you to take strong and immediate action to correct this matter.

Urgent Appeals Desk

Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

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Illegal arrest and torture causing serious head injuries

- Name of victim: Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal

- Address of victim: 198/1, Katagoda, Udugama

- Name of perpetrators: Officers from the Udugama Police Station

- Date of arrest and torture: 17 August 2003

DETAILED INFORMATION OF THE CASE:

Around 7:00 to 8:00pm on 17 August 2003, Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal was arrested by police officers with the Udugama Police Station near Kondalawatta road bridge while he was on the way to the lake for a bath. Six or seven people, wearing civilian clothes, came to him and they asked whether he was Nihal or not. Even before he answered, one with a pole that was later identified as a sub inspector Wijekoon immediately began to assault him. He beat Nihal severely untill the pole broke. As a result, he fell down to the ground. Then sub-inspector Wijekoon continued assaulting Nihal by kicking his legs, face, back and all over his body. The S.I Wijekoon also slapped Nihal's cheeks until his left cheek began to bleed. Nihal also bled from his nose and face. The S.I Wijekoon also broke Nihal's nose, giving it a permanent damage. The other officers accompanying S.I Wijekoon also assaulted the victim.

The victim's brother Kurupanwa Gamage Jayathissa later arrived at the place and asked the police officers not to assault the victim pledging that his brother was innocent. However, S.I. Wijekoon and the other police officers did not stop assaulting the victim. The victim was bleeding from his head, so he used the towel which he brought for the bath for his head. He was bleeding profusely and felt severe pain on his head.

Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal was taken to the Udugama Police Station. At the police station he bled a lot and was taken to the Udugama District Hospital. Three police officers accompanied him. A doctor who examined the victim advised that he should be hospitalized immediately. The victim was admitted to the hospital and two police officers remained as guards. When the victim was in the hospital, a police officer and the S.I Wijekoon from the Udugama Police Station forced him to put his thumb print on a bottle and also forced him to sign some documents. They did not explain to the victim what the documents were concerning. The victim said that in fact he was in a semi-conscious condition at that time and he thought that he was dying.

The next day two police officers, whose names are unknown (but the victim can identify his face), forced the victim to leave the hospital and brought him to the chamber of a magistrate. The magistrate ordered the victim to be detained for 14 days, but the victim did not even know the charges against him. When he was brought to the detention prison at Galle, the victim asked the prison officers to send him to the hospital for medical treatment. However, the prison officers ignored his complaints.

On 21 August 2003, the relatives of Nihal asked the court to bail him out, and they accepted. After making bail, the victim went to see the doctor at the district hospital of Udugama. The doctor who examined him told him that his condition was serious and that he should be hospitalized immediately. Then, the victim was admitted to the Teaching Hospital at Karapitiya where he went into surgery. Before the surgery, he received five X-ray examinations. He was discharged from the hospital on 27 August and the doctor advised him to take further treatment.

According to the medical report given by the judicial officer, doctor K.I. Premathilaka, the victim has the following injuries;

1. 3cm horizontal lacerated injury on the left side of the parietal region

3cm from the mid line and 11cm above the left ear

2. Bilateral black eye below the eyes

3. 6cm circular in swelling on the left parietal region

The victim's mother, Nihal Uralagamage Yasawathie, has made a complaint to ASP of Udagama concerning what happened to her son.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter, fax or e-mail to the addresses below expressing your concern about this serious case.

1 Hon. Mr. Ranil Wickremasinghe
Prime Minister
Cambridge Place, Colombo 7
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 1 2 682905
E-mail: secpm@sltnet.lk or bradmanw@slt.lk

2. Hon. Mr. K. C. Kamalasabesan
Attorney General
Attorney General's Department
Colombo 12
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 1 2 436 421
Email: attorney@sri.lanka.net or counsel@sri.lanka.net

3. Mr. Ranjith Abeysuriya PC
Chairman National Police Commission
69-1 Ward Place, Colombo 7
Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 1 2 691 926
Fax HOME: +941 2 674148

4. National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka
No. 36, Kynsey Road, Colombo 8
SRI LANKA
Tel: +94 1 2 694 925 / 673 806
Fax: +94 1 2 694 924
E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

5. Mr. Theo C. van Boven
Special Rapporteur on the Question of Torture
OHCHR-UNOG
8-14 Avenue de la Paix
1211 Geneva 10
SWITZERLAND
Fax: +41 22 917-9016
E-mail: secrt.hchr@unog.ch

and at:
International Relations
Maastricht University
The Netherlands
Tel: 31-43-3883233 (Assistant: Chantal Kuipers)
E-mail: th.vanboven@ir.unimaas.nl

Suggested Letter:

Dear

RE: A man suffers from serious head injuries after being tortured by police officers

- Name of victim: Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal

- Address of victim: 198/1, Katagoda, Udugama

- Name of perpetrators: Officers from the Udugama Police Station

- Date of arrest and torture: 17 August 2003

I am bringing to your attention the serious of Kurupanawa Gamage Nihal who was arbitrarily arrested by the police officers from the Udugama Station on 17 August 2003. The reason of the arrest is unknown yet. About six police officers including a sub inspector Wijekoon severely assaulted him by beating with a pole and kicking his legs, face, back and all over his body. In result, his nose was broken and he had serious injuries on his head that required surgery. Also, allegedly the police officers attempted to fabricate a case by forcing him to put his thumb print on the bottle and to sign some documents which he do know nothing about.

I urge you to order the immediate investigation of this case and bring those responsible persons who illegally arrested and tortured the victim to justice. Also, the perpetrators who attempted to fabricate a case should be brought before an impartial tribunal and apply the penal and/or administrative sanctions provided by law. I also urge you to provide compensation to the victim and to assist victim in accessing full medical treatment.


Thank you.

Sincerely yours,



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Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
UA-52-2003
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.