In an article published in the Guardian on Tuesday, a failed Tamil asylum seeker, 'Hari', recounted his harrowing experience of being tortured in the infamous '4th floor' of Sri Lanka's Criminal Investigation Department, accused of 'undermining diplomatic relations by complaining to the UK government' of previous abuses.
See here for full article in The Guardian.
Extract reproduced below:
'... In what he described as a "torture hall" on the fourth floor of the criminal investigation department building in Colombo, Hari, who had already served time for being an intelligence agent for the Tamil Tigers (LTTE), was accused of campaigning and raising funds for the organisation while in the UK and also of undermining diplomatic relations by complaining to the UK government of the abuses he had previously suffered.
Brought from his cell, he said the hall was "designed" for torture. On the walls were sticks and poles, tables and chairs adapted for beatings and whippings. The floor was splattered and stained with blood.
When he denied the accusations, Hari was beaten, whipped with electric cables, suffocated with a plastic bag containing petrol, hung by his ankles by nylon rope and "again burned with cigarettes".
His back is now a welter of scars and the cigarette burns are still prominent on his chest. The Guardian has also seen medical reports supporting his claims of torture.
"Due to the unbearable pain, I finally admitted all the allegations and I was made to sign a document and was asked to work for them as an informer," he says...'
