Category: Legal

GALLE, July 8, 2014 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan court Tuesday granted bail to 27 of 41 migrants who were returned to the country by Australia after a controversial mid-sea transfer, with one of them slamming Canberra for its lack of human rights.As anxious relatives waited outside the colonial-era court building in the southern city […]

SYDNEY, July 8, 2014 (AFP) – Australian government lawyers said Tuesday 153 Sri Lankan asylum-seekers were in custody on the high seas and agreed to give three days’ notice before handing any back to Colombo, as criticism mounted. A late-night interim injunction Monday temporarily halted the transfer of the would-be refugees from the boat, whose […]

KUALA LUMPUR, July 4, 2014 (AFP) – Malaysian police on Friday said they have arrested four more suspected Tamil Tiger separatists, including a man allegedly involved in the attempted assassination of a former Sri Lankan president. In May, the agency said it was “deeply concerned” that three men registered with the agency were deported to […]

COLOMBO, June 28, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s police arrested key suspects involved in fuelling religious riots and looting, an official said Saturday as minority Muslims expressed fears of more unrest ahead of Ramadan.Muslims as well as a majority of moderate Buddhists have pressed for action against the Buddhist Force, or BBS, which is seen […]

COLOMBO, June 22, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police announced Sunday they were tightening security in the capital after local media, in a rare show of unity, condemned them for failing to control Buddhist extremists behind deadly anti-Muslim riots. The UNP has accused the country’s powerful defence secretary and president’s younger brother, Gotabhaya Rajapakse, of […]

COLOMBO, June 21, 2014 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police were investigating a fire which Saturday destroyed a Muslim-owned clothing store in a district where religious tensions have been heightened after anti-Muslim riots killed four people and wounded 80.Authorities have not ruled out arson at the upmarket No-Limit store in Panadura, 25 kilometres (16 miles) south […]

June 18, 2014 (LBO) – HSBC Sri Lanka has warned that there is a text message scam seeking campaign and has asked customers or non-customers not to call back and reveal their identity, passwords or account details.“HSBC would like to remind that the Bank has not sent these text messages to customers and non-customers and […]

June 05, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s courts have ordered the liquidation of Touchwood, a controversial forestry investment company, but a appeal of the decision is planned, a media report said.Meanwhile recent media reports said trees in some forestry plantations and some investors were attempting to prevent it. Adaderanabiz.lk, a Colombo based business news portal […]

SYDNEY, June 2, 2014 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan Tamil asylum-seeker has died after setting himself on fire while awaiting a visa decision in Australia, Immigration Minister Scott Morrison said Monday.Leorsin Seemanpillai, 29, who was living in Geelong, outside Melbourne, after being granted a temporary visa a year ago, suffered burns to 90 percent of […]

KUALA LUMPUR, May 28, 2014 (AFP) – The United Nations refugee agency and Human Rights Watch on Wednesday decried Malaysia’s deportation of two Sri Lankan refugees and an asylum-seeker accused of being Tamil Tiger separatists.“Malaysia’s forced return of these refugees to Sri Lanka is no free pass for torture and mistreatment,” Phil Robertson, the rights […]

WELLINGTON, May 27, 2014 (AFP) – People-smugglers are looking to target New Zealand now that Australia’s tough border protection policies have effectively “closed down” that country to asylum-seeker boats, Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday.While the voyage to New Zealand from places such as Indonesia and Sri Lanka is potentially far more perilous than trying […]

May 25, 2014 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s Ceylon Tobacco Company Plc, a unit of British American Tobacco said it had gone to Supreme Court again over new labeling regulations, shortly after a court ruling that allowed graphical warnings.The recent court ruling allowed graphic labels covering 50 to 60 percent of the area of a pack […]