(FMM/IFEX) – FMM has expressed serious concern over the Kurunagala police’s refusal to provide information about journalist Subramanium Ramesh, the Mawathagama correspondent for the Tamil language daily “Veerakesaree”, who was arrested under emergency laws sometime in the afternoon of 19 August 2005. FMM accepts the security forces’ right to arrest persons on suspicion, especially with […]
(FMM/IFEX) – FMM has expressed serious concern over the Kurunagala police’s refusal to provide information about journalist Subramanium Ramesh, the Mawathagama correspondent for the Tamil language daily “Veerakesaree”, who was arrested under emergency laws sometime in the afternoon of 19 August 2005.
FMM accepts the security forces’ right to arrest persons on suspicion, especially with regard to national security issues, but any arrest has to be carried out with due regard to the law.
FMM officials called the officer in charge of Kurunagala police several times, but failed to obtain any information about Ramesh. Although FMM officials introduced themselves and asked for the name of the officer who answered the phone, he refused to identify himself and responded rudely. FMM’s secretary-general also reported Ramesh’s arrest to Sri Lanka’s Human Rights Commission.
Given Sri Lanka’s history of tens of thousands of disappearances of arrested persons, FMM emphasises that the right to information about arrested persons has to be strictly enforced.
FMM deplores this police officer’s behaviour and requests local, national and international human rights and press freedom organisations to write letters of concern. If this trend is not checked, FMM fears that emergency laws will be used against citizens on the whims of the authorities.
