Court slams the TID
The Colombo Additional Magistrate today blamed the Terrorist Investigation Division (TID) for not adhering to a court order and sternly ordered the OIC of the Division to be summoned to court next week.
[Views:39] [Fri, Mar 19, 2010] [Full Article]

JVP behind Channel 4 report
The government alleged today that General Sarath Fonseka’s letter leaked out to Britain’s Channel 4 was a work of the JVP as it bore all the trademarks of the Marxist group. The letter was leaked out this week from the heavily guarded Naval Headquaters in Colombo.
[Views:70] [Thu, Mar 18, 2010] [Full Article]

President rules out pardon
President Mahinda Rajapakse has ruled out an early pardon for his election rival General Sarath Fonseka and dismissed the former army chief as a "fool" who was unprepared for politics.
[Views:71] [Thu, Mar 18, 2010] [Full Article]

Tigers can seek UK asylum
British Court has ruled that being a member of the Tamil Tigers, which has been designated as a terrorist organisation by the government, should not prevent an individual claiming asylum. Their ruling was made in the case of “R” who joined the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) in 1992, at the age of 10.
[Views:62] [Thu, Mar 18, 2010] [Full Article]

Polls chief rejects UNP request
The Elections Commission today ruled out the possibility of having foreign observers present at the counting centers for the upcoming polls, stating that none of the political parties had made such a request on nomination day.
[Views:33] [Thu, Mar 18, 2010] [Full Article]

Fonseka: ‘I will never give up’, claims Channel 4
Exclusive: Former army commander General Sarath Fonseka tells Channel 4 News from his Sri Lanka prison cell that he is being set up, and claims the charges he faces in a military court are bogus.
[Views:114] [Wed, Mar 17, 2010] [Full Article]

Court Martial adjourns sittings
The second Court Martial which convened today to hear charges over the alleged contravention of military procurement procedures by General Sarath Fonseka, adjourned sittings over the composition of the tribunal, the army said in a statement.
[Views:62] [Wed, Mar 17, 2010] [Full Article]

Ranil for fresh IMF deal
United National Party (UNP) Leader Ranil Wickremesinghe said today that he would re-negotiate the stand-by arrangement of US$ 2.9 billion with the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and strike a separate deal if he comes to power at the April 8 General Election.
[Views:39] [Wed, Mar 17, 2010] [Full Article]

Warrant re-issued on Dhanuna
The Colombo Fort Magistrate has re-issued a warrant for the arrest of Dhanuna Thilakaranthna, the son in law of General Sarath Fonseka for absconding court. The CID informed court that Dhauna had been hiding in Sri Lanka and had been using international telephone facilities to mislead the investigations.
[Views:33] [Wed, Mar 17, 2010] [Full Article]

Ban hits out at Sri Lanka
UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon dismissed on Tuesday objections by Sri Lanka to his plan to establish a panel to look into possible human rights abuses there and said he would set it up without delay.
[Views:51] [Wed, Mar 17, 2010] [Full Article]

Court to hear Anoma's case
The Habeas Corpus application filed to the Court of Appeal by Anoma Fonseka was fixed to be taken up before a three judge bench on March 19.
[Views:67] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

Govt. challenges AI on hit list
The Defence Ministry today challenged the international human rights group Amnesty International (AI) to release the allged media hit list in it's possession to the public in order to prove that such a list actually exists.
[Views:40] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

SF appeares before Court martial
The first Court Martial, appointed to try General Sarath Fonseka on charges against his participation in political work while in active service commenced its sittings as scheduled at 9.30 a.m. today at Navy Headquarters.
[Views:54] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

UNP releases manifesto
The United National Party (UNP) released its manifesto in Colombo a short while ago. The main aim and objectives of the manifesto are to allow the public to decide on whether an executive presidency was needed, to reduce the term of parliament to five years and to hold general and provincial elections on the same day to save cost.
[Views:38] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

AI alleges media on hit list
The international human rights group Amnesty International (AI) claims it is in possession of a “hit list” believed to be compiled by the Sri Lankan intelligence unit with names of at least 35 leading journalists and NGO officers.
[Views:29] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

Trinco HQI, 3 cops suspended
The Head Quarters Inspector (HQI) of the Trincomalee police and three policemen have been suspended pending investigations into the killing of a man in a police raid in Trincomalee.
[Views:28] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

Police swarmed with cut-outs
The police are unable to remove all the political posters, cut outs and banners before the General Elections as there are well over 7000 candidates who have decorated the roads with campaign materials, the IGP said today.
[Views:22] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

US report vague, non-specific
The Ministry of Human Rights says the human rights report released by the US State Department last week consists of vague, non-specific and unverifiable information on Sri Lanka and would appear to fall short of the high standards that the State Department professes to uphold.
[Views:24] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

SC reprimands Sunday Leader, orders to carry apology
The Supreme Court today reprimanded the Sunday Leader chief editor Federica Janz over a contempt of court case lodged against the newspaper. The complaint claimed that the Sunday Leader published an opinion article defaming the deputy Chief Justice Shirani Bandaranayaka.
[Views:39] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]

UK experts negotiating with pirates
A team of British experts are currently negotiating with Somali pirates for the release of the Sri Lankan crew members aboard the hijacked Saudi vessel ‘Al-Nisr Al Saudi’ and the negotiations are expected to go on for over a month, sources said.
[Views:13] [Tue, Mar 16, 2010] [Full Article]