Jaffna protestors demand release of Tamil political prisoners

As many test positive for COVID-19 in an expanding prison-cluster

Glocal
By Editor_1
-TG
0

COLOMBO – Appropriately masked and observing Covid-health guidelines, a large number of Jaffna residents got on to the streets on Monday (28) to  demonstrate the growing concerns over the plight of Tamil political prisoners, many of who have tested positive for COVID-19.

The protesters included Tamil politicians, parliamentarians, religious leaders, family members of prisoners and Tamil and Muslim locals, who demanded the release of the political prisoners and better care of those who have contracted the virus. The protest rally was  organized by the ‘The Voice of the Voiceless’ – an NGO co-ordinated by former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council and political prisoner, Murugiah Komakan.

Komakan, who urged Tamil politicians last week to take immediate notice of the health-risk that Tamil prisoners find themselves in and to take immediate action to alleviate their sufferings, headed the protest near the Nallur Nallai Thirugnanasambandar Adheenam (Hospice).

Demonstrators displayed placards and posters with slogans that read: ‘We will unite and rescue our relatives from prison’, ‘Tamil political prisoners must be released immediately!’, ‘Don’t continue to cheat us! Don’t betray us!’  and ‘Try to understand the pain of the families of the imprisoned’.

Tamizh Makkal Thesya Kootanii (TMTK) leader and MP, C.V. Wigneswaran, Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP Sivagnanam Sritharan and People’s Liberation Organisation of Tamil Eelam (PLOTE) leader and MP Dharmalinam Siddharthan were among those in attendance at the rally.

Posters also call out against the continued detention of Tamil prisoners, specifically in the context of the current overcrowding and called out to religious leaders, social activists and political representatives to lend their voice for the Tamil prisoners.

At least 64 Tamil prisoners incarcerated in prisons across the island, including political prisoners, were confirmed to have contracted the coronavirus, while PCR tests conducted at Welikada (Magazine) prison in Colombo over the past few days confirmed  14 prisoners, including Ragupathi Sharma, a political prisoner given a 300-year jail sentence in connection with the bombing of former Sri Lankan president Chandrika Kumaratunga, as positive for COVID-19.

Posters at the rally also highlighted the government’s “responsibility to protect prisoners” and questioned “What is the sin we, Tamils have committed for the detention in the prisons to continue even after decades?”.

Despite promises to release Tamil political prisoners, the government has failed to do so and the detainees are continuing to die without reprieve. In face of their dire predicament, many Tamil political prisoners have grown frustrated and concerned about the health risks. Kanagasabai Devadasan, a Tamil political prisoner from Colombo who has spent 12 years in jail wrote a letter this month to Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa, to expedite his case or instead to “hang him immediately” as a result of his unjust detention. Earlier this year, Sellapillai Mahendran, the longest-serving Tamil political prisoner died in prison.

Earlier this year, a Sri Lankan government spokesperson claimed here were no Tamil political prisoners as “those arrested in the North and East are detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act on terrorism charges and cannot be deemed as political prisoners”.

-TG

 

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