Category: Legal

COLOMBO, Sept 16, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka Monday brought criminal charges of corruption against former chief justice Shirani Bandaranayake whose sacking earlier this year was internationally criticised as a blow to judicial independence.The impeachment process was launched in November after several Supreme Court decisions went against the government of Rajapakse, who has tightened his […]

BANGKOK, September 10, 2013 (AFP) – Nearly a quarter of men surveyed in six Asia-Pacific countries admit to committing rape, often against their own partners, according to a UN report published Tuesday that exposes widespread violence against women.Based on anonymous interviews with more than 10,000 men aged between 18 and 49-years-old in Bangladesh, China, Cambodia, […]

COLOMBO, September 7, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police have arrested a navy officer suspected of involvement in smuggling people in fishing boats to Australia, officials said Saturday. Australia announced tough new measures in mid-July to discourage illegal boatpeople. Since then, local police have apprehended three boats and detained 300 Sri Lankans, including 56 women […]

SYDNEY, September 2, 2013 (AFP) – New policies targeting asylum-seekers taking boats to Australia had “broken the back” of the people-smuggling trade, Immigration Minister Tony Burke said Monday, claiming victory on the sensitive election issue. Burke said the ruling Labor party’s plan to send all asylum-seekers arriving by boat to Papua New Guinea and Nauru […]

August 25, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s army Sunday denied involvement in an armed robbery at the home of a journalist who has been critical of the government.Media rights groups have said Sri Lanka remains a dangerous place for journalists despite the end of a decades-long war between the military and Tamil separatist rebels in […]

August 23, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president has bowed to international pressure and relinquished the defence ministry’s authority over the police department, an official said Friday. President Mahinda Rajapakse has created a new ministry for law and order, and placed it in charge of the 80,000-strong police which had been overseen by the defence […]

COLOMBO, August 24, 2013 (AFP) – Five armed men held a Sri Lankan newspaper editor at knifepoint as they searched her home on Saturday before police burst in and shot one of the intruders dead, officials said.The latest incident came a day ahead of a fact-finding mission to the island by the UN’s human rights […]

August 14, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s president Wednesday ordered a new investigation into the disappearance of thousands of people in the island’s northeast during an ethnic war which ended four years ago.The announcement comes just days before UN human rights chief Navi Pillay is due to visit the island, amid international criticism of Colombo’s […]

WASHINGTON, August 9, 2013 (AFP) – The United States on Friday urged Sri Lanka to investigate a deadly army crackdown on a village environmental protest and to prosecute those responsible.The military on August 1 opened fire on thousands of unarmed villagers at Weliweriya near Colombo as they protested contamination of their ground water, allegedly due […]

COLOMBO, Aug 6, 2013 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s opposition Tuesday demanded an international investigation into a deadly army crackdown on villagers who were demonstrating against contaminated water supplies.The United National Party (UNP) criticised the army’s plans for an internal military probe into the death of three civilians and wounding of 50 others during a protest […]

LONDON, July 30, 2013 (AFP) – Almost 100 foreign suspected war criminals were found to be living in Britain last year after applying for citizenship or asylum, the interior ministry said on Tuesday.“That, in turn, requires more political will and commitment at the higher level.” British police in May arrested five men wanted in Rwanda […]