Another Tamil political prisoner goes on hunger-strike at New Magazine Prison

[TamilNet, Thursday, 10 December 2015, 17:21 GMT]
32-year-old Komahan Murugiah, a former member of Jaffna Municipal Council, who has been detained in Colombo since July 2010 after being accused of attempting to assassinate Douglas Devananda, a former SL Minister and the leader of the EPDP outfit. The SL 'Terrorist' Investigation Division (TID) had arrested Mr Murugiah during the Rajapaksa regime and produced two cases, one in Vavuniyaa and another in Colombo. The High Court in Vavuniyaa had dismissed his case as his ‘confession’ had been obtained under torture. Mr Douglas Devananda has declined to witness against Mr Murugiah and openly urged for the release of the prisoner. However, the SL TID and SL Attorney General's Department have been trying to file a third case against Murugiah with the intention of keeping him detained indefinitely, informed legal sources told TamilNet on Thursday.

36-year-old Jeneevan Sivarasa, alleged of attempting to assassinate Maithiripala Sirisena, the incumbent SL President who was a former SL minister in the Rajapaksa regime in 2006, is already on a hunger-strike and was transferred from Jaffna prison to New Magazine Prison in Colombo this week.

Another prisoner is languishing in jail with a 300-year jail sentence based on ‘confession’ obtained under severe torture by the SL military intelligence and police who had accused him of a plot to assassinate former SL president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

Ms Kumaratunga, who heads the so-called 'Office of the National Unity and Reconciliation' of genocidal Sri Lanka and SL President Mr Maithiripala Sirisena, both claiming to have brought so-called Good Governance to the island, are not yet prepared to reconcile with the Tamil prisoners, who have been accused of attempting to assassinate them during the times of war in the past.

Murugiah Komahan, who hails from Koddadi in Jaffna, has joined Jeneevan Sivarasa in the fast-unto-death campaign at New Magazine Prison, demanding unconditional and immediate release of all Tamil political prisoners.

Chronology: