Jaffna Prison overcrowded with humanitarian protection seekers

[TamilNet, Friday, 26 September 2008, 16:22 GMT]
Prison in Jaffna, temporarily housed in a private building that can accommodate only one hundred, has become crammed with more than three hundred inmates, who have sought humanitarian protection from the Sri Lankan Human Rights Commission in Jaffna. Many of them have been languishing in the prison for more than two years. Meanwhile, two youths sought protection custody on Thursday as persons appearing for interrogation at SLA camps in Thenmaraadchi and other areas in Jaffna peninsula had been killed by unidentified gunmen while returning home after interrogation in the recent past.

A 25-year-old driver from Chanthirapuram, Madduvil North in Thenmaraadchi and a 24-year-old youth from Kadduvan, Chu'n'naakam South in Valikaamam sought protection Thursday with Human Rights Commission (HRC) Jaffna office due to death threats by Sri Lanka Army (SLA), sources in Jaffna said. SLA soldiers had been continually forcing both the youths to appear at their local SLA camp for interrogation, the youths said in their statements to the HRC.

The youth from Kadduvan is a father of one child.

HRC officials took steps to place the two youths in the protective custody of Jaffna Prison.