TNA activist in Ampaa'rai abducted, tortured after meeting against land grab

[TamilNet, Thursday, 23 May 2013, 23:33 GMT]
An armed squad that came in a white van on Tuesday abducted a 68-year-old activist, Thangathurai Veluppillai, a supporter of the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) in Ampaa'rai district. The victim was blindfolded while he was at Kalmunai public market and was taken away by the squad that tortured him to obtain the names of the TNA activists in Ampaa'rai district. The abduction comes a few days after the intelligence of the occupying SL military ‘investigated’ him following a meeting against the land grab by the SL military in his division. After 3 days of interrogations in Batticaloa, Mr Thangathurai was taken back to Kalmunai and released there, the sources further said.

Informed civil sources in Ampaa'rai told TamilNet that the abducted victim, who hails from Malvaththai in Chamman-thu'rai division of Ampaarai district, was taken to Batticaloa for interrogation.

The Eezham Tamils at Malvaththai have been demanding their own Tamil division as they have been unable to expect justice from the hostile Sinhala officials who were scheming demographic changes.

TNA parliamentarian Mavai Senathiraja attended a meeting at Malvaththai on 23 April following the request from the villagers after reports that 70 acres of land, initially earmarked for a radio station in the Chammaan-thu’rai DS division of the Ampaar’ai district is being segmented for the construction of a Sri Lankan military cantonment.

After the meeting, the SL military intelligence, which had been threatening the villagers not to complain against the land grab, obtained the names of the organisers of the meeting.

The latest abduction is an attempt to trace all the links of the TNA in order to suppress the villagers from protesting against the seizure of their lands and the militarisation of their village.

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Tamil from Australia tortured, abused by Sri Lankan forces

Tamil from Australia tortured, abused by Sri Lankan forces during visit to island

[TamilNet, Thursday, 25 April 2013, 17:48 GMT]
An Eezham Tamil male currently residing in Melbourne, Australia was tortured and sexually abused by Sri Lankan forces when he paid a visit to the island a few weeks before, Australian media reports. Speaking under a different name of ‘Kumar’ to the ABC on Wednesday, the father of three described in graphic detail of how he was abducted and tortured. This was, however, flatly rejected as “false allegations” by the SL High Commissioner for Australia, Thisara Samarasinghe, himself a military officer accused of war crimes. Despite living in Australia, the torture survivor is unable to come out in public owing to fear of retaliation by the GoSL on his family back in the island. Tamil sources from Australia further said that as long as the US and its bloc are going to churn out only impotent resolutions, this arrogance of the genocide-accused SL state would continue.

A report by Michael Gordon, Political Editor with The Age, for the Sydney Morning Herald on Thursday further elaborates on the case of the torture survivor.

Extracts from Mr. Gordon’s report titled ‘Scarred by Sri Lankan torture’ follows:

“''Kumar's'' scars are real and are only just beginning to heal - the result, he maintains, of four gruesome days of torture in a dark room, somewhere outside Colombo, barely two weeks ago.”

“What seems beyond question is that Kumar, not his real name, was un-scarred when he left Melbourne in March to return to Sri Lanka to run the restaurant of a hospitalised uncle - and very badly scarred when he returned on April 11.”

“Kumar admits he accepted money to carry some parcels for the Tamil Tigers while working as a bus driver in Sri Lanka in 2006. He says he left the country two years later and entered Australia on a student visa before completing a course in cooking and being granted a 457 visa in January last year.”

“Twice, he says, he returned to Sri Lanka to visit family before his wife and three children were able to join him. Each time, he says, he kept a low profile, staying in the family home, and had no trouble.”

“This time, he suspects he was spotted by Sri Lankan intelligence officers while working front-of-house in his uncle's restaurant.”

“He was riding home from the restaurant on a motor bike with his brother when they were intercepted. Kumar says he was bound, blindfolded and driven to a room and tortured for four days.”

“Early on, he says he saw a stove in a blood-spattered room, discarded women's underwear and an iron bar in a bucket. The ordeal reached its climax on the fourth day, when he says his back was beaten with the scalding bar.”

“''They wanted me to admit that I'm a LTTE [Tamil Tiger] and I said, 'No. How can I admit? I just delivered some parcels for some money','' Kumar told Fairfax.”

“''On the last day I begged them not to kill me, [saying] 'I've got family, I've got kids'. They showed me a blank sheet of paper and wanted me to sign.'' He claims that 30 minutes after signing the paper, he was released by a roadside.”

“Now he is seeking asylum, saying he fears that his back injuries will prevent him returning to work at a suburban Indian restaurant - and leave him liable to deportation.”

Separately, in a press release by the Tamil Refugee Council on Thursday, Aran Mylvaganam, spokesperson for the TRC, said that Kumar’s case was a living proof to the lie of the Australian Government's claim that it was safe for Tamils to return to Sri Lanka, whether they be asylum seekers or people returning voluntarily.

“Australia’s policy on Sri Lanka and on asylum seekers and refugees is in turmoil. It is morally, ethically and legally bankrupt,” said Mylvanagam.

The reason people like Kumar have to suffer is because governments like Australia engage with this brutal regime, giving it the cover to commit atrocities, he added.

• Press statement by the Tamil Refugee Council

External Links:

The Sydney Morning Herald:		Scarred by Sri Lankan torture
ABC:		Torture claims emerge from Sri Lanka

UK Tamil tortured in Colombo, returned after payment of ransom to CID

[TamilNet, Monday, 15 October 2012, 07:46 GMT]
Sivasubramaniam Jeevan, an Eezham Tamil youth citizen of UK living in Scotland, who was on a visit to the island of Sri Lanka on 3 October, was detained by the notorious Criminal Investigation Department (CID) of Colombo from the day he landed to 9 October, and was allegedly tortured under suspicion of “LTTE links”, after taking away his passport and other documents. He was released last Tuesday after managing a payment of a sum of 1.5 million rupees, plus 325 pounds, as ransom money to the CID. Speaking to TamilNet from his residence in Scotland, 33 year old Jeevan, who is now undergoing psychological treatment owing to the trauma of interrogation, said that the CID officers tortured him by beating him, verbally abusing him, and threatening to kill him. He was also interrogated on diaspora activities in the UK, he said.

Mr. Jeevan, who is originally from Nelliyadi, Vadamaraadchi had left Sri Lanka for the UK in 2006, and had obtained a British passport in 2012. He said that he was earlier with the LTTE, but lost ties with the organization after leaving the island. He had undertaken the travel to the island with the desire to just see places, thinking that the situation would be normal after the war, he said.

Jeevan had landed at the airport in Colombo on the night of 3 October, with a return ticket booked for the 7th. On his arrival he was accosted by plainclothesmen from the Terrorist Investigation Department (TID). After taking his passport, they took him to a room and identified him by a wound on his back that he had got many years earlier in battle. They then handed him over to the CID who took him to a house in Colombo near the airport.

The CID further identified him by using a photograph that was sent to them from a collaborator in the UK.

After stripping Mr. Jeevan to only his inner garments, they applied electric shock to his wound in the back, he said. He also added that he was slapped many times and abused profanely, with threats of further torture. Apparently, a CID man had also pointed a gun at Jeevan threatening to shoot him.

The CID had also interrogated him on his involvement in fundraising activities in the diaspora, but Jeevan had denied having taking part in any.

Later, after he appealed to a police officer named Rathnayaka whether he could make a call to his friends in Europe to inform them about his detention and secure some payment. The officer then took him to the Negombo police station and took all of the 325 pounds that Jeevan was carrying.

On 5 October, a former LTTE cadre from Kilinochi was brought to the station to identify Jeevan. After this, Rathnayaka told Jeevan that there would be a need to interrogate him more. At this, Jeevan offered him an amount to secure his release.

After some dealing the Sri Lankan officers settled at an amount of 1.5 million Sri Lankan rupees. 800,000 rupees was transferred via bank and 700,000 rupees was given as cash to Rathnayaka.

In the period of his detention, he was extensively interrogated on activities in the diaspora and whether he had any links in the island. Some officers also commented that the diaspora was a big headache but that they were monitoring all activities.

The Sri Lankan officer Rathnayaka apparently told Jeevan “You were meant to die. You have escaped.”

Jeevan was later put on a flight on 09 October to UK.

Speaking to TamilNet, he repeatedly stressed on the risks to life faced by anyone with a history of association with the struggle of Eezham Tamils returning to the island.