ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION-URGENT APPEAL PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-198-2011

10 October 2011

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SRI LANKA: Police officers are not prosecuted after torturing a Free Trade Zone worker

ISSUES: Illegal arrest; arbitrary detention; torture; denial of justice; labour rights: impunity; rule of law

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Dear friends,

Mr. Maharambage Pradeep Kumara Priyadarshana (28) of Jambolagahamullahena, Dippitiya, Mahapallegama is single and works at Noratel Lanka Ltd in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Katunaya. On 30 May 2011 Pradeep participated in a trade union action organized by the factory workers. Police officers attached to the Katunayake Police Station arrived at the scene and without warning severely assaulted the workers. Several workers were injured including Pradeep but the police did not provide medical treatment. He and the other workers were illegally detained at the Katunayaka Police Station before being given medical assistance. Pradeep was taken to the Wijeyakumaratunaga Government Hospital and then to the Ragama Teaching Hospital where he was treated there for 3 days. To-date no police officers have been arrested for illegally arresting, publicly torturing or detaining Pradeep and his fellow workers. This case is yet another illustration of the exceptional collapse of the rule of law in the country.

CASE NARRATIVE:

According to the information that the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) received Mr. Maharambage Pradeep Kumara Priyadarshana (28) of Jambolagahamullahena, Dippitiya, Mahapallegama is single and works at Noratel Lanka Ltd in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Katunaya.

On 30 May 2011 Pradeep reported to his factory in the FTZ at 6 am as usual. At 10.30 am it was announced that a collective trade union action by all the workers would take place against the newly introduced government’s Private Sector Pension Bill in front of the main gate of the FTZ. Thousands of workers participated in the protest.

Within a few minutes hundreds of police officers, mainly attached to the Katunayaka Police Station, surrounded the protesting workers. Without issuing any warning the police officers started to beat the workers indiscriminately. The female workers who were in the front line of the protestors were the first to be beaten.

The police officers baton charged the workers before using tear gas. The workers then ran inside their respective factories for protection.

The police officers then entered the FTZ, followed the workers into their factories and dragged them outside to the gate. They also indiscriminately caused damage to the factory property and the motor bikes which were parked at the factory’s compounds.

Later the police officers ordered the workers to form two lines and walk ahead. When they did this the officers on both sides started to beat the workers with poles and iron chains. If any worker looked directly at the police officer then that particular worker was severely beaten again.

Many workers were injured but the officers paid no attention to their condition.

The workers were ordered to board a bus which took them to the Katunayaka Police Station. when the injured workers cried out for relief they were ignored by the police.

At the police station Pradeep and the other workers were asked to provide the names and the addresses of the all the workers. Due to the fear of further torture they provided the information. Pradeep observed that more than 200 workers were detained at the police station at that time.

Then police officers ordered the workers to come out of the station and asked them to sit on the ground surrounding the bus. The workers followed the orders. Meanwhile Pradeep had fainted but despite this none of the police officers provided any treatment for his injuries. When he was able to looked around he further observed that there were more than a dozen workers who were injured and some had fainted due to the hot sun.

After 30 minutes a senior military officer came to the scene with a powerful politician, a deputy minister of the area and warned the workers that this would be the result if they engaged in any protest against the government in future. He further warned the workers that by making trade union actions some political parties benefited and so they should not participate in these union actions.

Then the senior military officers ordered to take the workers to the main gate. Then he observed that another set of workers still participating in the trade union action against the same Bill. Then the senior military officers ordered the injured workers to go and inform the protesting workers that they were injured and beaten for protesting and stop the protest. Some injured workers did the same while the police officers and the senior military officers observing their movements.

Eventually Pradeep, along with the other injured workers was brought to the Wijayakumaratunga Government Hospital for treatment. Pradeep was admitted to the hospital but later transferred to the Teaching Hospital of Ragama for further treatment. Pradeep was discharged from the Ragama Hospital after three days of treatments on 2 June. He cannot use his hand as before due to the injuries caused by the torture.

In this particular matter several thousand of workers, trade unions of the country and civil rights movements, nationally and internationally paid their attention from the very beginning to this case. They all collectively raised their voices seeking justice for the victims.

However, the state’s law enforcement authorities have not shown any interest in holding a credible investigation and no one has been arrested or held responsible. Pradeep and the other victims are being denied of justice.

ADDITIONAL COMMENTS:

The State of Sri Lanka sign and ratified the CAT on 3 January 1994. Following state obligations Sri Lanka adopted Act number 22 of 1994 the law adopted by the Sri Lankan parliament making torture a crime that can be punishable for minimum seven years and not less than ten years on being proven guilty. The Attorney General of Sri Lanka is suppose to file indictments in the case where credible evidence were found on torturing people by state officers.

SUGGESTED ACTION:

Please send a letter to the authorities listed below expressing your concern about this case and requesting an immediate investigation into the allegations extrajudicial killing by the police perpetrators, and the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of a state. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department. Further, please also request the NPC and the IGP to have a special investigation into the malpractices of the police officers for abusing the state officers’ powers.

Please note that the AHRC has also written a separate letter to the Special Rapporteur on extrajudicial, summary or arbitrary executions on this regard.

To support this appeal please click here:

SAMPLE LETTER:

Dear ________,

SRI LANKA: Police officers are not prosecuted after torturing a Free Trade Zone worker

Name of the victim: Mr. Maharambage Pradeep Kumara Priyadarshana (28) of Jambolagahamullahena, Dippitiya, Mahapallegama

Alleged perpetrator: Police officers attached to the Katunayaka Police Station

Date of incident: 30 June 2011

Place of incident: Free Trade Zone Katunayaka

I am writing to express my serious concern over the case of Mr. Maharambage Pradeep Kumara Priyadarshana (28) of Jambolagahamullahena, Dippitiya, Mahapallegama. Pradeep is single and works at Noratel Lanka Ltd in the Free Trade Zone (FTZ) in Katunaya.

On 30 May 2011 Pradeep reported to his factory in the FTZ at 6 am as usual. At 10.30 am it was announced that a collective trade union action by all the workers would take place against the newly introduced government’s Private Sector Pension Bill in front of the main gate of the FTZ. Thousands of workers participated in the protest.

Within a few minutes hundreds of police officers, mainly attached to the Katunayaka Police Station, surrounded the protesting workers. Without issuing any warning the police officers started to beat the workers indiscriminately. The female workers who were in the front line of the protestors were the first to be beaten.

The police officers baton charged the workers before using tear gas. The workers then ran inside their respective factories for protection.

The police officers then entered the FTZ, followed the workers into their factories and dragged them outside to the gate. They also indiscriminately caused damage to the factory property and the motor bikes which were parked at the factory’s compounds.

Later the police officers ordered the workers to form two lines and walk ahead. When they did this the officers on both sides started to beat the workers with poles and iron chains. If any worker looked directly at the police officer then that particular worker was severely beaten again.

Many workers were injured but the officers paid no attention to their condition.

The workers were ordered to board a bus which took them to the Katunayaka Police Station. when the injured workers cried out for relief they were ignored by the police.

At the police station Pradeep and the other workers were asked to provide the names and the addresses of the all the workers. Due to the fear of further torture they provided the information. Pradeep observed that more than 200 workers were detained at the police station at that time.

Then police officers ordered the workers to come out of the station and asked them to sit on the ground surrounding the bus. The workers followed the orders. Meanwhile Pradeep had fainted but despite this none of the police officers provided any treatment for his injuries. When he was able to looked around he further observed that there were more than a dozen workers who were injured and some had fainted due to the hot sun.

After 30 minutes a senior military officer came to the scene with a powerful politician, a deputy minister of the area and warned the workers that this would be the result if they engaged in any protest against the government in future. He further warned the workers that by making trade union actions some political parties benefited and so they should not participate in these union actions.

Then the senior military officers ordered to take the workers to the main gate. Then he observed that another set of workers still participating in the trade union action against the same Bill. Then the senior military officers ordered the injured workers to go and inform the protesting workers that they were injured and beaten for protesting and stop the protest. Some injured workers did the same while the police officers and the senior military officers observing their movements.

Eventually Pradeep, along with the other injured workers was brought to the Wijayakumaratunga Government Hospital for treatment. Pradeep was admitted to the hospital but later transferred to the Teaching Hospital of Ragama for further treatment. Pradeep was discharged from the Ragama Hospital after three days of treatments on 2 June. He cannot use his hand as before due to the injuries caused by the torture.

In this particular matter several thousand of workers, trade unions of the country and civil rights movements, nationally and internationally paid their attention from the very beginning to this case. They all collectively raised their voices seeking justice for the victims.

However, the state’s law enforcement authorities have not shown any interest in holding a credible investigation and no one has been arrested or held responsible. Pradeep and the other victims are being denied of justice.

I request your urgent intervention to ensure that the authorities listed below instigate an immediate investigation into the allegations of police torture. I also request the prosecution of those proven to be responsible under the criminal law of the country for misusing powers of state officers and for wrongful prosecution. The officers involved must also be subjected to internal investigations for the breach of the department orders as issued by the police department.

Yours sincerely,

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PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Mr. N K Illangakoon

Inspector General of Police

New Secretariat

Colombo 1

SRI LANKA

Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877

E-mail: igp@police.lk

2. Ms. Eva Wanasundara

Attorney General

Attorney General’s Department

Colombo 12

SRI LANKA

Fax: +94 11 2 436421

E-mail: ag@attorneygeneral.gov.lk

3. Secretary

National Police Commission

3rd Floor, Rotunda Towers

109 Galle Road

Colombo 03

SRI LANKA

Tel: +94 11 2 395310

Fax: +94 11 2 395867

E-mail: npcgen@sltnet.lk or polcom@sltnet.lk

4. Secretary

Sri Lanka Human Rights Commission

No. 108

Barnes Place

Colombo 07

SRI LANKA

Tel: +9411 2694925, +9411 2685980, +9411 2685981

Fax: +9411 2694924 (General) +94112696470 (Chairman)

E-mail: sechrc@sltnet.lk

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme

Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrc.asia)



Document Type :

Urgent Appeal Case

Document ID :

AHRC-UAC-198-2011

Countries :

Sri Lanka

Issues :

Arbitrary arrest and detention, Impunity, Labour rights, Right to redress, Rule of law, Torture

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Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries. Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings. Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like.

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere. People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor.

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person. And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances. Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly. In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate. Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates. For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors. Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money. Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost. In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action. If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government. However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

“The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right.”

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies. The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.

Asian Human Rights Commission

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