Attack on Tamil prisoners protested
Protesters say Tamil people in Sri Lanka are 'not even safe in prisons'
Relatives of Tamil political prisoners and civil rights activists in Sri Lanka have called on the authorities to either to produce the detainees before courts or to release them.
They protested in front of Magazine prison in Colombo against a recent attack, on 13 November, allegedly by jail guards on Tamil prisoners arrested on suspicion of being former LTTE members.
The protest, organised by Civil Monitoring Committee on Tuesday, called on the authorities to take immediate action against the jail guards.
Kumara Guruparan, Western Peoples Front (WPF) provincial councillor, told BBC Sandeshaya that the attack indicates the state of human rights situation in Sri Lanka.
Prisoner speaks
A prisoner speaking on condition of anonymity with BBC Sinhala service described what happened.
When we asked the officers why they beat us, we were told, now your bosses are dead and gone, you are not free to do as you please
A prisoner
"When we asked the officers why they beat us, we were told, now your bosses are dead and gone, you are not free to do as you please."
He said that Tamil prisoners who are unable to speak in Sinhala were specifically targeted.
22 prisoners sustained injuries; seven of them seriously, he added. The prisoner said that they were attacked with wickets, bats and firewood.
'Discrimination'
Tamil prisoners around the country launched a hunger strike in protest on Monday.
On Tuesday, Rajalakshmi from Ragala told journalist KS Udayakumar that her son is being detained by the authorities for over one and a half years.
Parameshwari Thirunavukarasu, another relative of a prisoner, said that visiting Sinhala and Tamil people are treated differently by prison officers.
Tamil people are also Sri Lankans, she said, and they should get the same rights as Sinhala people.
bbcsinhala.com
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