Free the Political Prisoners of Sri Lanka

There are thousands of Sinhala, Tamil and Muslim political prisoners languishing in Sri Lankan prisons. Political activist, journalists, suspected Tamil militants and those who surrendered to the government forces during and after the civil war are in the list.

People are taken into custody by police, military, abduction by government sponsored paramilitary forces and taken by 'so called white van' from the vicinity.(The white vans are the symbol of Gov underground forces related to underworld Mafias.)

Prisoners are held in maximum security prisons, detention centers and unidentified locations. There are no reliable records of these detainees for relatives, legal personals and other concerned non governmental organizations to review and to be aware of the condition of these prisoners including where they are and whether they are dead or alive. The prisoners held in custody are treated inhumanly, disregarding their dignity, tortured physically and mentally and some times killed. The recent incident of killing two inmates and brutally assaulting thirty prisoners who were hospitalised with life threatening injuries demonstrates the plight of thousands of other prison inmates in the country.

The Political prisoners some of whom have been in custody for more than 20 years without having been convicted of any offence and others have been indicted based on forced confessions are increasingly living in danger of getting killed at any moment.

There were few incidents in recent time in the prisons of Sri Lanka in which two youth death occurred and Govt. Of Sri Lanka claimed no responsibility.

We are organizing this signature campaign to bring awareness to the Canadian public the plight of all political prisoners who are being held in Sri Lankan prisons and demand for the immediate release of such prisoners or to produce them in court.