Another suspected mass grave in Kattankudy

June 24, 2014

Sri Lankan authorities will dig up the site of a suspected mass grave in the eastern province over claims that it contains the bodies of over 100 Muslims allegedly killed by Tamil Tigers 24 years ago.

“In April a Kattankudy resident had lodged a complaint about a mass grave site in the Kaluwanchikudy area. He asked the police to investigate the murders of around 100 Muslims by the LTTE in 1990,” police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana said.

According to the complaint, the bodies of nearly 100 Muslims killed by the Tigers are buried there.

“The site will be exhumed on July 1,” he was quoted as saying by PTI, adding that security has been tightened in the area.

The LTTE have been accused of ethnic cleansing by chasing out Muslims from the northern and eastern regions of the country.

Deaths in Police Custody

Tuesday, 24 June 2014

The Friday Forum has urged the Inspector General of Police to respond as a matter of urgency to the current public concern, including that of the Bar Council, on the deaths that are taking place in police custody. A particularly shocking recent incident involves the death of a 17year old minor after assault in police custody.

The jurisprudence of the Supreme Court, including rulings by the late Justice Mark Fernando, has held the State accountable under our Constitution to prevent custodial deaths and torture as a violation of the basic rights guaranteed to all. In the past, senior Police officials have been summoned to be present in the Supreme Court. Their responsibility to ensure prosecution and internal disciplinary procedures for such violence has been emphasized by the Court. It is regrettable to find civil society organizations and lawyers constantly reporting that the high incidence of torture and custodial violence continues unabated.

The Friday Forum is likewise deeply concerned about the killing, in very suspicious circumstances, of alleged criminals while under arrest and being escorted by police officers, who claim rather unconvincingly, that they act in self defence when their captives turn on them.

The Police force too have encountered violence and harassment when they seek to fulfill their responsibilities .The attack and murder of policemen on duty, an incident of a policeman being forced to kneel and apologize to a politician who was asked to pay a spot fine for speeding on an expressway, and the assault of a policeman (now in hiding) subsequent to issuing a fine for a similar offence, indicate that the State is failing in its responsibility to protect officials who seek to do their duty. We consider it the responsibility of the IGP, as the most senior official responsible for effective law enforcement and the due administration of criminal justice, to take immediate measures to investigate, prosecute and take disciplinary action against police personnel who perpetrate custodial violence and torture, and to safeguard, in a legal manner, those who fulfill their responsibilities to the public.

Serious cause for alarm also arises from recent reports indicating abuse or incompetence in handling weapons carried by police for protection when on duty. 0n the evening of 12th June, a young man riding a motor cycle was shot at and killed, and the same evening a three wheeler was shot at and hit a person standing in the garden of his house.

Friday Forum has called upon the IGP to act urgently on the proposals made by the Bar Council and conduct a credible investigation that will help him to take necessary action to prevent and respond to a very grave phenomenon that can affect the lives of all Sri Lankans.

UPFA PS member, another arrested over vehicle racket

Policemen with a section of luxury vehicles at Mirihana Police yesterday. Pic by Pradeep Prasanna Samarakoon

By Madura Ranwala-June 23, 2014

Acting on a tip-off, the Special Crimes Operation Unit, Mirihana, led by DIG Sumith Edirisinghe arrested, on Sunday night, UPFA Hingurakgoda Pradeshiya Sabha member Bandula Wickramaratne and another suspect for their alleged involvement in a racket where vehicles obtained on lease purchase basis or rented from rent-a-car services were sold with forged documents.

The DIG’s office launched a probe after it had received six complaints.

The first suspect, Vidana Pathirana Harendra of Polgasowita, was arrested while he was trying to sell a car worth millions of rupees in the Katuwawala area after forging its documents.

At the time of arrest, the suspect had a grenade in his possession, according to Police spokesman SSP Ajith Rohana.

Under interrogation the suspect revealed that PS Member Bandula was involved in the racket and the latter was in hiding in a rented house in Arangala area.

The police took into custody 18 vehicles.

UPFA PS member was arrested with eight vehicles. The recovered vehicles are four double cabs, two lorries, two vans and ten cars.

The perpetrators had rented cars from rent-a-car companies and had lease purchased vehicles from areas like Mirihana, Mount Lavinia and Nuwara Eliya.

The first suspect was grilled on a 72-hour detention order. Produced before the Nugegoda magistrate last night, the PS member was remanded till June 25.

Cop arrested over abduction and Rs 1.4m theft

June 24, 2014

A police officer has been arrested on charges of abducting a resident of Wellawatta and stealing nearly Rs 1.4 million from him, police said. 

The victim was on his way to deposit Rs 1,365,000 in cash at a bank on June 21 when two police officers, claiming to be CID officers, forced him into a three-wheeler and stole the money. 

A complaint was filed with Wellawatta Police regarding the incident and a police officer attached to the same police station was arrested while the other has fled, the police media unit said. 

Mahanayakes Hell Bent On Stopping Car Race But Maintain Stoic Silence On Anti-Muslim Attacks

June 24, 2014

Despite their stone-cold silence on the anti-Muslim attacks that were instigated by the Bodu Bala Sena (BBS) in Southern Sri Lanka last week, the mahanayake theras have awakened their voice to object to having night races in Kandy.

The mahanayake theras in a letter issued yesterday has called on the President to intervene and ensure the plan to hold the Night Races in Kandy on June 27 and 28 is cancelled.

They have asserted that since the city of Kandy is a place of worship to Buddhists all over the world and is also a UNESCO World heritage site due to its historical and religious importance, holding the night races would be detrimental to the sacredness and pride of the city.

“Therefore we urge you to shed your immediate attention into the issue and ensure steps are taken to cancel the plans for the racing event to be held in this city,” the letter states.

The only mahanayake thera that voiced concern of the anti-Muslim attacks in Aluthgama led by the BBS was Amarapura Chapter Mahanayaka the Ven. Davuldena Gnanissara Thera.

Their rejection of the night races being held in Kandy however was voiced collaboratively by Asgiriya Chapter Maha Nayaka, Ven. Udugama Sri Buddarakkitha Thera, Malawatta Chapter Anu Nayaka, Ven. Niyangoda Wijithasiri Thera, Amarapura Chapter Mahanayaka the Ven. Davuldena Gnanissara Thera as well as Ramanna Nikaya Maha Nayaka the Ven. Napana Premasiri Thera.

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#FreeAJStaff: world stands shoulder to shoulder

TUESDAY 24 JUNE 2014
Exactly 24 hours after three Al Jazeera journalists were jailed in Egypt for terror related charges, hundreds of colleagues have staged a silent protest in their support.

Staff from the BBC and other news organisations held a one minute silent protest outside New Broadcasting House in London at 9.41am, the time on Monday that Peter Greste, an Australian journalist, Baher Mohammed, an Egyptian producter, and Mohammed Fahmy, acting Cairo bureau chief, were jailed for seven years each.

#FreeAJStaff World Stands Shoulder to Shoulder by nelvely

Egyptian president ignores Obama call for clemency over al-Jazeera journalists

Abdel Fatah al-Sisi refuses entreaties by western leaders to pardon three reporters jailed by Cairo court

Abdel Fatah al-Sisi with John Kerry in Cairo: the Egyptian president's reluctance to take action flies in the face of US efforts at renewed diplomacy. Photograph: Reuters

Patrick Kingsley in Cairo-Tuesday 24 June 2014 
The future of three al-Jazeera journalists jailed in Egypt looks bleaker after Egypt's strongman president, Abdel Fatah al-Sisi, refused a pardon, ignoring pleas from Barack Obama to release them and other political prisoners.

"We will not interfere in judicial rulings," Sisi said on Tuesday morning. "We must respect judicial rulings and not criticise them even if others do not understand this."

Australian Peter Greste, Canadian-Egyptian Mohamed Fahmy and Egyptian Baher Mohamed were jailed for between seven and 10 years on Monday for endangering Egypt's national security, alongside four students and activists. Two British al-Jazeera journalists and a Dutch freelancer were sentenced to a decade in jail in absentia – despite the prosecution, according to trial observers Amnesty International, failing "to produce a single shred of solid evidence".

Sisi's refusal to intervene comes just under a year after he ousted Mohamed Morsi in what was framed at the time as an attempt to preserve Egypt's democracy. It was a further slight to US diplomacy, coming just hours after the White House demanded the journalists' release, and only two days after America's top diplomat, John Kerry, reiterated that millions of dollars in suspended aid money to Egypt would be unfrozen.

"We call on the Egyptian government to pardon these individuals or commute their sentences so they can be released immediately, and grant clemency for all politically motivated sentences – starting with the other defendants in this trial," the White House said in a statement.

"The prosecution of journalists for reporting information that does not coincide with the government of Egypt's narrative flouts the most basic standards of media freedom and represents a blow to democratic progress in Egypt."

Link to video: Parents of jailed al-Jazeera journalist Peter Greste speak of their devastation

Sisi's failure to intervene means that a lengthy appeals process – which may not begin until October – is the only legal recourse left available to Greste and his colleagues. On Tuesday morning, Greste's brother Mike said the family were still mulling over options, and would delay announcing their next action until meeting with legal experts and lawyers on Tuesday and Wednesday. "It's too early to say," said Mike Greste.

While Sisi would placate international critics with a pardon, inside Egypt he would gain little, with many applauding the convictions. Al-Jazeera has been portrayed as an enemy of the state due to the perception that its coverage favours the supporters of Egypt's ousted president, Mohamed Morsi.

The defendants in the trial have been portrayed as terrorists – known in the media as "the Marriott cell" – and students with Islamist links were added to the case to make it seem like the journalists had been collaborating with dissidents. In a televised broadside on Monday night that embodied many Egyptians' anti-Jazeera sentiment, the TV presenter and newspaper editor Ibrahim Eissa applauded the jailing of Greste and his colleagues.

"None of them is a journalist, [none of them is] a journalist who is a member of the Egyptian journalists' syndicate, or a journalist who is working in Egyptian journalism," said Eissa, who ironically was a fierce regime critic under Hosni Mubarak, and who was once himself pardoned by Mubarak after being sent to jail for his journalism. "There is no one like that among them. All of them are students and all of them are [Muslim] Brotherhood."

Eissa's outburst followed yet more blows to free expression in Egypt. In Minya, central Egypt, a reporter was jailed for five years on Monday for reporting on sectarian attacks on Christians in the area. Mohamed Hegazy, who works for a US-based channel, was reportedly accused of fabricating news and exacerbating sectarian tensions.

Later, Egypt's best-known contemporary novelist, Alaa al-Aswany, said he would no longer write columns in the country's most-respected private broadsheet, al-Masry al-Youm, because "criticism and difference of opinion is no longer allowed". Aswany's statement was striking because he was initially one of the loudest cheerleaders of last summer's regime change – although his joy has since turned to criticism of the current regime.

Egypt's attack on free expression is part of a wider crackdown on dissent that has seen hundreds "disappeared", and at least 16,000 arrested, according to the government's own figures – with some estimates rising to 41,000.

Ex-minister forms Thai opposition group from exile

By AP News Jun 24, 2014 

BANGKOK (AP) — A Cabinet minister in Thailand’s former elected government has established a group in exile to oppose the military regime.

Former Interior Minister Charupong Reuangsuwan said Tuesday in an open letter read on YouTube and posted on Facebook that the Organization of Free Thais for Human Rights and Democracy rejects the junta’s legitimacy.

Charupong led the Pheu Thai Party that won the 2011 election. Its opponents launched aggressive street protests last year to demand it hand over power to an appointed government that would make reforms.

The army ousted the elected government in a coup on May 22, and Charupong defied its order to surrender, apparently fleeing to neighboring Cambodia.

The junta has threatened its opponents with harsh jail terms.

In his statement, Charupong outlined the following goals:

1. To oppose the military dictatorship and its aristocratic network, and establish the people’s complete and unchallenged sovereignty;

2. To restore and strengthen Thai democracy so that it becomes the stable founding pillar of the Thai state;

3. To guarantee and nurture respect for human dignity, equality, freedom, and peace;

4. To promote a free and fair economy;

5. To reform Thai culture so that its values are fully consistent with democracy;

6. To fully develop and improve the quality of life for all Thai citizens.

Meriam Ibrahim detained at airport in 'abuse of power'

TUESDAY 24 JUNE 2014

Sudanese Christian convert Meriam Ibrahim and her two young children are re-arrested at Khartoum airport, just hours after photos are released showing her smiling, and free from prison.

Ms Ibrahim was released on Monday by the Sudanese appeal court following international outcry about her treatment. But the family have now been "re-arrested" at Khartoum airport, where they were reportedly planning to fly to the United States, where Ms Ibrahim's husband is a citizen.

Her lawyer Elshareef Ali Mohammed told Channel 4 News that that her two young children were also detained. He added that security officials had given no reason for the re-arrest, and he called it an "abuse of power".

(Picture: Elshareef Ali Mohammed)

Photographs released to Channel 4 News earlier on Tuesday show 27-year-old Meriam Ibrahimdressed in bright green, her husband Daniel Wani (in a wheelchair), baby daughter Maya and 21-month-old son Martin.

Ms Ibrahim has been detained since February with her young son, and gave birth to her baby daughter in shackles, while in prison.

She was sentenced to death in May for abandoning Islam by marrying a Christian, sparking outrage around the world. A court had ruled that she was Muslim because that was her father's faith, and her Christian marriage of 2011 was officially annulled. She was sentenced to 100 lashes for adultery and death by hanging for renouncing Islam. Sex outside a "lawful relationship" is regarded as adultery under Sudanese law.

Ms Ibrahim had argued that although her father was a Muslim, he abandoned his family when she was six and she was brought up by her Christian mother.

A court ruled that she should be freed on Monday 23 June, but she was rearrested just one day later at the airport.

Atomic export group to discuss ties with nuclear-armed India

BY FREDRIK DAHL-VIENNA Tue Jun 24, 2014

(Reuters) - An influential world body that controls nuclear exports will address the sensitive issue of closer ties with India - which is outside the nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty - at an annual meeting this week, a draft agenda obtained by Reuters showed.

The United States, Britain and others have argued that nuclear-armed India should join the secretive 48-nation Nuclear Suppliers Group - established in 1975 to ensure that civilian atomic trade is not diverted for military purposes.

But other NSG states have voiced doubt about accepting a country that built up a nuclear arsenal outside a 189-nation treaty set up four decades ago to prevent states from acquiring such weapons of mass destruction.

Days ahead of the June 26-27 NSG meeting in Buenos Aires, India said it was ratifying an agreement, a so-called Additional Protocol, with the International Atomic Energy Agency to expand oversight over its civilian nuclear programme.

The United States said this marked another "important step in bringing India into the international non-proliferation mainstream". But some critics questioned the step's significance, as it would not affect India's nuclear weapons programme and sensitive atomic fuel activities.

They said the Indian agreement was a much weaker version of a deal most other IAEA members have, giving the U.N. watchdog wide inspection powers to make sure there are no covert nuclear activities in a country.

"India's version of the Additional Protocol is a paper tiger," said Daryl Kimball of the U.S.-based Arms Control Association, a research and advocacy group.

A diplomatic source said he did not expect any decision on the membership issue at the NSG plenary meeting in Argentina's capital, suggesting it would take more time.

The diplomatic tussle centres on whether the emerging power should be allowed into a key forum deciding rules for civilian nuclear trade, even though it never joined the 1970 Non-Proliferation Treaty (NPT), under which it would have to give up its nuclear weapons.

The agenda for the meeting on Thursday and Friday said members would be "invited to a general discussion on the NSG's relationship with India", without giving details on this point.

CHINESE RESERVATIONS

The NSG's outgoing chair before Argentina takes over, the Czech Republic, is to report on "consultations with India regarding dialogue and cooperation" with member states.

India - Asia's third-largest economy - would need the support of all NSG states to join the cartel that has a pivotal role in countering nuclear threats and proliferation.

If India eventually were to become a member, it would boost its standing as an atomic power. It would be the only member of the suppliers group that has not signed up to the NPT.

Supporters say it is better if the country is inside than outside the NSG as it is already an advanced nuclear energy power and will in future become a significant exporter as well.

Those who are sceptical argue it could erode the credibility of the NPT, which is a cornerstone of global nuclear disarmament efforts.

Diplomats have said that China and some others have been doubtful. Beijing's reservations are believed to be influenced by its ties to its ally Pakistan, India's rival, which has also tested atomic bombs and is also outside the NPT, analysts say.

To receive civilian nuclear exports, nations that are not one of the five officially recognised nuclear arms states - those that had known arsenals before the NPT was hatched - must usually place their nuclear activities under IAEA safeguards.

When the United States sealed a nuclear supply deal with India in 2008 that China and others found questionable because Delhi is outside the NPT, Washington won an NSG waiver from that rule after long and contentious negotiations in Vienna.

(Editing by Mark Heinrich)

Why TISA Is More Scary Than TTIP Or TPPA

 

posted by M Caulfield-June 21, 2014

On Wednesday, June 18th, 2014, WikiLeaks’ publisher Julian Assange announced the publication of a secret draft letter of the Trade In Services Agreement(TISA). TISA is a controversial global trade agreement which brings with it concerns that it will make it easier for corporations to operate and profit across borders with impunity.

This global trade agreement, promoted by the United States and the European Union, covers 50 countries and is being opposed by anti-globalization activists and global trade unions. The TISA deal is expected to promote privatization of public services in countries across the world, and ease regulations in other sectors.

According to WikiLeaks, the level of secrecy surrounding these trade negotiations is even higher than the also controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement (TPPA) or the Atlantic equivalent (the TTIP), which have been headline news for much of this year.

Jane Kelsey, a law professor at the University of Auckland who analyzed the leaked documents for WikiLeaks, says that the secrecy of these TISA negotiations “exceeds even the controversial Trans-Pacific Partnership and runs counter to moves in the WTO towards greater openness.”

In April, demonstrations broke out in Geneva, the hometown of the WTO, as diplomats met secretly for the sixth round of negotiations over TISA, which will regulate international activities in a wide range of service industries such as finance, telecommunications, transportation, as well as local utilities such as water. The protestors were demanding that the draft text be released publically for discussion, but it has remained a secret until now.

One group that is very concerned about TISA is Public Services International(PSI), a global trade union that federates public service workers in 150 different countries. PSI issued a special report titled “TISA versus Public Services,” and in it they explain that TISA threatens to allow multinational corporations to permanently privatize vital public services such as transportation and health care in countries all around the world.

PSI General Secretary Rosa Pavanelli says that “This agreement is all about making it easier for corporations to make profits and operate with impunity across borders. The aim of public services should not be to make profits for large multinational corporations. Ensuring that failed privatizations can never be reversed is free-market ideology gone mad.”

Just because TISA is being pushed as a something that will enhance global trade does not mean this is pro capitalism or will benefit any of us. Free trade, and the entire ideology of responsible freedom itself, is individualistic in nature and tends to avoid forcing people to pick any specific option. Forcing local governments to privatize their water has nothing to do with freedom, although it does have something to do with capitalism’s influence on government. Such a top-down approach of a “world” organization setting up regulations that people must be forced to follow.

These “free trade” and “service” agreements, reminiscent of the North American Free Trade Agreement, have absolutely nothing to do with free trade or improving quality or services. As Noam Chomsky said more than 10 years ago, “the major tendency is towards transfer of power to private tyranny and away from the public sphere.. It’s happening in different countries at different rates, it’s happening internationally, and I think that’s going to be very harmful to values that we ought to share, like democracy.”

Science fiction come true: Moving a paralyzed hand with the power of thought

An accident at the beach left Ian Burkhart paralyzed. Now, the 23-year-old Ohio man is trying to become the first person to move his hand using thoughts and technology. (Lee Powell / The Washington Post)
BY JIM TANKERSLEY

 June 24-2014
Ohio COLUMBUS, Ohio — First they screwed the end of the gray cord into the metal silo rising out of Ian Burkhart’s skull. Later they laid his right forearm across two foam cylinders, and they wrapped it with thin strips that looked like film from an old home movie camera. They ran him through some practice drills, and then it was time for him to try.

Science Fiction Come True Moving a Paralyzed Hand With the Power of Thought by nelvely