Tamil political parties to hunger strike in solidarity with detainees

by admin
May 22, 2012

Members of the Tamil National Alliance and its constituent parties are to go on hunger strike in Vavuniya on Wednesday, to show solidarity with the over 300 reported Tamil detainees protesting across the island.

According to Ceylon Today, TNA Spokesperson and the Jaffna District Parliamentarian Suresh Premachandran stated that various parties, including the TULF, PLOTE, EPRLF, TELO TAK, TNLF and DPF would be on hunger strike on Wednesday, urging the government to release all Tamil political prisoners.

The hunger strike, now entering its sixth day, has now grown to include an approximate 300 Tamil detainees, including 32 female prisoners. 

TNA leader Sampanthan told the Sri Lankan Parliament on Tuesday, 

"The prisoners have refused to call off their fast stating that several assurances given in the past have not been kept and that this time they are determined to fast unto death."

The protest movement, at prisons across the country, has seen the detainees call for their release, with many prisoners having been held for years without charge.

See our earlier post:

Over 200 Tamil prisoners on hunger strike (21 May 2012)

Add new comment

About text formats

Plain text

  • No HTML tags allowed.
  • Lines and paragraphs break automatically.
  • Web page addresses and email addresses turn into links automatically.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.

Restricted HTML

  • You can align images (data-align="center"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • You can caption images (data-caption="Text"), but also videos, blockquotes, and so on.
  • Global and entity tokens are replaced with their values. Browse available tokens.
  • You can embed media items (using the <drupal-media> tag).

We need your support

Sri Lanka is one of the most dangerous places in the world to be a journalist. Tamil journalists are particularly at threat, with at least 41 media workers known to have been killed by the Sri Lankan state or its paramilitaries during and after the armed conflict.

Despite the risks, our team on the ground remain committed to providing detailed and accurate reporting of developments in the Tamil homeland, across the island and around the world, as well as providing expert analysis and insight from the Tamil point of view

We need your support in keeping our journalism going. Support our work today.

link button