SLA removes young women to Thellippazhai SLA camp: Sri Lanka Army (SLA) officers took away nearly a hundred young women from Vanni held in Thenmaraadchchi SLA detention centres in buses to Thellippazhai SLA Special Rehabilitation Camp (SRC), claiming that the young women had been given military training by Liberation Tigers, sources in Jaffna said. The young women, however, were brought back to the detention centres following the strong protest and agitation raised by the parents and family members of the young women, the sources added. Full Article
Colombo committing war crimes attacking hospitals – HRW: Sri Lankan armed forces “have repeatedly struck hospitals in the northern Vanni region in indiscriminate artillery and aerial attacks”, Human Rights Watch said Saturday, warning that commanders responsible for such attacks may be prosecuted for war crimes. “While doctors and nurses struggle to save lives in overcrowded and underequipped facilities, Sri Lankan army attacks have hit one hospital after another,” said Brad Adams, Asia director at HRW. HRW again called for the situation in Sri Lanka to be urgently taken up by a formal meeting of the UN Security Council and by a special session of the UN Human Rights Council. Full Article
Sri Lanka arrests Channel-4 journalists: Three British TV Channel-4 journalists, Nick Paton-Walsh, the channel’s Asian correspondent, producer Bessie Du and cameraman Matt Jasper, who were covering the Sri Lanka conflict in Trincomalee have been arrested and are being taken to Colombo, AP reported. Channel-4’s first independently filmed recent exposure coverage of the conditions of the Tamil refugees who fled the war and being in the internment camps had irked Colombo. The blatant rights violations of the Sri Lanka state had disturbed the world at large for the cavaliar fashion the state was behaving towards the civilians. Full Article
SLA artillery barrage hits ‘safety zone’ as ICRC ship leaves Mullaiththeevu: Sri Lanka Army (SLA) stepped up heavy shelling into the safety zone Saturday around 7:00 a.m. Within an hour, more than 50 seriously wounded civilians were rushed to the makeshift hospital now functioning at a junior school in Mu’l’li-vaaykkaal, medical sources reported Saturday night. The SLA stepped up artillery and mortar barrage into the 8 square kilometer area where civilians numbering between 120,000 to 165,000 are starving without adequate humanitarian supplies amid congestion. Despite Sri Lanka’s assurance to the international community heavy weapons are still targetted towards safety zone. Full Article
4 Tamil youths missing, 1 abducted in Batticaloa in a day: Four Tamil youths from Batticaloa district had gone missing Sunday 3 May in places around Batticaloa town while armed men in a white van abducted a young farmer on the same day in Vavu’natheevu, in Batticlaoa district, according to complaints registered with Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission (SLHRC) in Batticaloa, by their relatives. Four of the youths who are friends had gone missing after leaving homes while unidentified armed men arriving in a white van had forcibly taken away the fifth youth from his home in Vavu’natheevu, sources in Batticaloa said. Full Article
Extortion through abduction of children increases in Jaffna: Officers of local UN organizations in Jaffna peninsula have complained to Sri Lanka Army (SLA) high authorities in Jaffna of demands of extortion and intimidation that their school going children will be abducted, sources in Jaffna said. Though the said officers confirmed the demands and intimidation they refused to give additional information. The persons alleged to be the perpetrators are Sri Lanka Army (SLA) backed paramilitary men who move freely during SLA imposed curfew hours and around SLA camps in the peninsula, civil society sources in Jaffna said. Full Article
Tamil Human Rights officer abducted in Colombo: Unidentified armed men in a white van, alleged to be Military Intelligence officers, Thursday night forcibly took away Stephen Sunthararaj, 39, the Project Manager of Centre for Human Rights and Development (CHRD) in Colpetty in Colombo, near Colombo Town Hall, sources in Colombo said. Sunthararaj, who had been arrested by Colpetty police 12 February, was released Thursday morning by Colombo Magistrate Court found not guilty of any offence, the sources added. Full Article
Sinhala gangs threaten Tamil traders in Kandy: Sinhala gangs in Kandy are continuing to threaten Tamil traders and extorting money from them, according to Mr.S.Rajaratnam, Member of the Central Provincial Council. Police were provided with telephone numbers and bank details of the heads of the gangs, but the law-enforcement has not taken any action on the criminals. Full Article
Malnutrition in mothers triggers Jaundice, Hepatitis in newborns: Lack of basic nutrients in food available to lactating mothers is causing severe cases of jaundice and hepatitis-A in the new borns and months old babies inside the safe-zone where an estimated 120,000-165,000 Tamil civilians are struggling to stay alive, medical sources within the safe zone said Saturday. Mothers have flocked to the temporary hospital relocated to junior school, crying and pleading with the doctors for milk-powder, but hospital stocks are completely depleted, according to Vanni medical sources. Full Article
Credits: Tamilnet
Tags: Speak Out
