Former Tamil political prisoner arrested at Colombo airport for second time since release

by Abi
Mar 10, 2018

A former Tamil political prisoner was arrested at Colombo’s international airport on Friday, for the second time since his release in 2016.

Murugaiah Komakan, a former member of the Jaffna Municipal Council who was detained for six years under the Prevention of Terrorism Act was arrested while on his way out to India. He was detained for several hours and released after being told to appear at the Terrorism Investigation Department’s notorious ‘4th floor’ headquarters tomorrow (Sunday).

After being released in February 2016, Mr Komakan had attempted to travel to India on a pilgrimage in July of that same year. He was arrested at the airport with police saying he had a travel ban.

The ban was lifted by the courts following an appeal lodged by Mr Komakan and his lawyer.

Despite showing court documentation proving the ban had been lifted, Mr Komakan was once again prevented from flying on Friday.

Police stated that the court had not informed the Department of Immigration and Emigration as it should have done and detained Mr Komakan for several hours before releasing him with a summons to attend the TID headquarters.

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