Tamil Tigers convicted of terrorism in Sri Lanka pardon alleged Tamils ​​News

The president pardons 16 men who are under pressure from UN island nations without making arrests under the anti-terrorism law.

The Sri Lankan president has pardoned 16 men linked to the Tamil Tiger rebels, as the island nation has renewed pressure from the United Nations on charges against arrests without charge under the anti-terrorism law.

Thursday’s pardon is the first for people linked to the Tigers since Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power in 2019 on a nationalist agenda, which promised that they would not prosecute the troops who crushed the rebels.

The men were convicted under the Terrorism Prevention Act (PTA), which gives security forces the power to arrest and detain suspected exploiters. It has been called for by the UN Human Rights Council and other international rights groups.

“16 Tamil detainees are among the 94 prisoners who received a presidential pardon,” said Chandana Ekanayake, a prison superintendent, about the release that came as part of the Poson Buddhist festival.

Men have been behind the serve for at least a decade, he added.

Government officials say the release is the first phase of a plan to release all those arrested or charged under the PTA.

Another 78 people arrested under the law have been detained for decades in support of Tamil Tiger separatists, political sources in the Tamil community told the AFP news agency.

Lawmaker Namal Rajapaksa, the president’s nephew and son of Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa, told parliament this week that some of the prisoners are in prison before they were born in 1986.

He added that his government is working to free them. The law allows suspects to be without charge for a long time.

The UN Human Rights Council last week called on the government to denounce or release those detained under the PTA, including human rights activists who were recently arrested.

Critics have warned that they are being used as a weapon aimed at dissidents and minorities in the country who have broken the law.

The tigers were crushed in a military campaign that ended in May 2009.

International rights groups have called on Sri Lanka to hold itself accountable for the corruption that allegedly killed thousands of civilians in the final phase of the 37-year separatist war.

The military has denied the allegations and the Rajapakas government has criticized the criticism as politically motivated.