The prison wardens together with the Sinhala inmates have brutally attacked the peaceful hunger strikers and verbally abused them and call them terrorist. They also threatened the Tamil inmates of severe consequences if they continue their hunger strike. Despite all that, the Tamil inmates are continuing their hunger strike.

When the Tamil prisoners brought this issue with the prison authorities they failed to take any action against the attackers. The prisoners’ attempt to send a memorandum to the UN Human Rights Commissioner was also sabotaged by the prison authorities. The Tamil detainees have also informed the Tamil National Alliance Parliamentarians about their hunger strike and asked them to take their message to the visiting Human Rights Commissioner when they meet her. The prisoners declared that in the absence of proper guarantees for their release they will start a fast unto death campaign.

Meanwhile, 66 Tamil prisoners in Magazie prison announced that they will also start a fast unto death campaign from Thursday. This incident comes as the UN human Rights commissioner is on a fact finding mission to Sri Lanka to asses the human rights situation in the country. “Such incidents happening while UNHRC is in the country and the Sri Lanka ministers claim that human rights violations are inevitable in a conflict situation and their attempt to down play the magnitude of the violations comparing with other conflict situations internationally are clear indications of the Sri Lankan government’s endorsement of Human rights violations in the country”, said an observer. “Madam Arbour should take all these into serious consideration when arriving at a conclusion on Sri Lankan rights situation” he concluded.

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