Category: Legal

September 13, 2011 (AFP) – A Sri Lankan minister led a protest march on Tuesday that forced organisers to abandon an annual Hindu sacrifice ritual in which hundreds of goats were due to slaughtered. Public Relations Minister Mervyn Silva, a member of the Buddhist majority, arrived at the Munneswaram Hindu temple, 80 kilometres (50 miles) […]

Sept 11, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka has arrested a fishing vessel with 40 people suspected to be illegal migrants headed for Australia, an official said. Sri Lanka navy has stepped up naval patrols and strengthened its presence along the island’s coast to combat piracy and illegal immigration. “The boat was arrested off the island’s […]

Aug 31, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka on Wednesday used draconian anti-terror laws to detain thousands of Tamil rebel suspects who would have had to be freed when a state of emergency ended after 28 years, an official said. Attorney General Mohan Peiris said President Mahinda Rajapakse invoked regulations under the Prevention of Terrorism Act […]

August 31, 2011 (AFP) – About 1,200 alleged Tamil Tiger rebels in Sri Lanka will be released, with the end of emergency rule imposed 28 years ago to deal with the separatist movement, state media said Wednesday. The Daily News quoted Justice Minister Rauf Hakeem as saying that the end of emergency rule, announced by […]

Aug 30, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka’s securities watchdog has fined Environmental Resources Inc and several officers, over a disclosure related offence, market sources said. Sri Lanka’s Securities and Exchange Commission earlier sent the firm a notice of action, over a disclosure related matter. Under Sri Lanka’s securities law, a person charged with securities fraud […]

NEW YORK (AFP) – US regulators have levied a $34.5 million fine against alleged Galleon case insider trading tipster Deep Shah, who is believed to be hiding in India, a court filing showed Wednesday. Shah is the only one who remains at large. The Sri Lankan-born billionaire founder of Galleon Group, Raj Rajaratnam, was convicted […]

Aug 25, 2011 (LBO) – Sri Lanka will end nearly three decades of emergency rule, President Mahinda Rajapaksa told the island’s parliament, which has to renew the law every month to give extensive arrest and detention powers to authorities over citizens. President Mahinda Rajapaksa in a special address to parliament said lawmakers would not have […]

August 20, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lankan police on Saturday arrested a top Buddhist monk on a charge of having sex with a 12-year-old girl in violation of strict child protection laws, police said. The 60-year-old monk was accused of abusing the child over a period of one year at his temple in the north-central […]

August 19, 2011 (AFP) – Sri Lanka’s High Court Friday handed five Chinese nationals the death penalty for murdering a compatriot at a restaurant near the capital over eight years ago, a court official said. A Chinese woman and two Chinese men were in court Friday to hear the sentence while judges issued a warrant […]

SYDNEY, August 15, 2011 (AFP) – Five men from Malaysia and Sri Lanka were charged Monday with being members of an international fraud syndicate responsible for attacks on bank card systems across Australia. During raids, police seized items including machines for processing bank payments, laptop computers, numerous mobile phones, cash, false travel documents and a […]

Aug 11, 2011 (LBO) – Lawyers for Raj Rajaratnam, a Sri Lanka born fund manager convicted of insider trading, said he should be dealt leniently because of his failing health, the state exaggerated his crimes and his good deeds. US prosecutors had demand a maximum sentence of 24.5 years and described him as the ‘modern […]

NEW DELHI, August 11, 2011 (AFP) – India’s president has rejected mercy pleas from three men convicted of the 1991 assassination of then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi, paving the way for their execution, an official told AFP on Thursday. “The rejection (of the clemency petitions) happened last week after the president returned from a foreign […]