SL State Intelligence harasses another Tamil activist in Jaffna

[TamilNet, Tuesday, 10 December 2019, 22:43 GMT]
The SL State Intelligence Service (SIS), formerly known as the National Intelligence Bureau (NIB), has been harassing 35-year-old Komahan Murugiah from Punnaalai, Jaffna after he denounced a fake news report regarding the Tamil Political Prisoners (TPPs). A Jaffna-based Tamil Television, Dan TV, alleged of orchestrating false propaganda in favour of SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa had recently claimed that seven TPPs from Anuradhapura prison had been silently released. On Friday, Mr Komahan openly rejected the fake news and said all the six TPPs detained in Anuradhapura prison were still languishing there. After Komahan exposed the false propaganda, SL SIS officers started to harass him posing questions, rights activists in Jaffna told TamilNet on Tuesday.

Back in 2010, during the times of previous Rajapaksa regime, SL ‘Terrorist’ Investigation Division (TID) detained Mr Murugiah, a former member of the then EPDP-run Jaffna Municipal Council, and produced two cases, one in Vavuniyaa and another in Colombo. He was alleged of attempting to assassinate EPDP paramilitary operative and party leader Douglas Devananda.

The High Court in Vavuniyaa had dismissed his case as his ‘confession’ had been obtained under torture.

However, detention continued on another account. Komahan was staging hunger-strike along with other prisoners demanding his release. As the issue of TPPs gained momentum, Mr Devananda also appealed for his release.

After a long struggle, he was released on 29 February 2016. Since his release, Komahan has been voicing for the release of all the TPPs.

SL President Gotabaya Rajapaksa came to power vowing to release imprisoned Sinhala military personnel calling them as war heroes. At the same time, EPDP leader Douglas Devananda, who was backing Gotabaya Rajapaksa, started to claim, during the election campaign, that all TTPs would be released if Gotabaya was elected SL President.

Thus, the TV station which sophisticatedly backs Gotabaya Rajapaksa was producing fake news implying such releases had taken place as promised by Mr Devananda.

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