Modern Dictatorships through the Mirror: Time for us to be Conscious
Modern Dictatorships through the Mirror: Time for us to be Conscious?????????????????????????????????????????????
Sri Lanka: Account for Wartime Disappearances
More Than 20 People Last Seen in ArmyCustody Remain Missing
Screengrab of a video obtained by Human Rights Watch shows LTTE leader Colonel Ramesh in Sri Lankan army custody.
(New York) - The Sri Lankan government should account for everyone who was taken into custody at the end of Sri Lanka's 26-year-long armed conflict in May 2009 and are feared to have been "disappeared," Human Rights Watch said today. Despite numerous requests from families for information about their relatives, the authorities do not appear to have conducted any serious investigations, Human Rights Watch said.
Human Rights Watch has obtained several additional, longer videos of Ramesh, providing further evidence that he was in army custody. In one of the videos, Ramesh is seen lying on a bench in civilian clothes. In four other videos, several soldiers stand around Ramesh while one of the soldiers questions him about where he is from, the whereabouts of the wife of LTTE leader Velupillai Prabhakaran, and how he received an injury on his back. At one point it seems that the soldiers are telling Ramesh that the date is the 22nd, suggesting that the video may have been filmed on May 22, 2009. A sixth video shows only Ramesh answering questions about when he joined the LTTE, what his position is, and his family members.
=======================================================Sri Lanka calls for probe on Gaddafi death
Colombo: Sri Lanka on Sunday condemned the killing of Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi and demanded a probe into the circumstances surrounding his death.
A 21-word terse statement by the ministry of external affairs said that "the government of Sri Lanka is of the opinion that the circumstances surrounding the death require an explanation". Gaddafi has been a long standing friend of Sri Lanka.
He visited Colombo in 1976 to attend the non aligned heads of states summit hosted by Sri Lanka.
Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa toured Libya in 2007 and his son Namal, a government parliamentarian was also received by the late Libyan leader last year in Tripoli.
The statement followed concerns raised by government MPs on Friday in parliament condemning the killing of the Libyan leader by the forces of the Libyan transitional council.
