Sri Lanka's TID summons former LTTE cadre over Facebook account

by Sharmini
Mar 10, 2024

Former Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) cadre and activist Selvanayagam Aravinthan has been summoned for an investigation on March 12 by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) over a Facebook account. 

Aravinthan was arrested by Vavuniya police in November 2023 after he questioned army intelligence officers for holding an exhibition opposing Maaveerar Naal.

Read more here: Vavuniya police arrest former LTTE cadre on Maaveerar Naal.

Aravinthan's summons comes just weeks after Sri Lanka passed the Online Safety Act which has been widely condemned for the risk it poses to freedom of expression. 

Although the Act has been recently introduced, Tamils in the North-East have been summoned and detained over social media posts for years. 

In November 2020, Tamil journalist Kokulathasan, was detained under the notorious Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) for allegedly posting photographs of the LTTE on his Facebook page. Reporters Without Borders (RSF) called on Sri Lanka's authorities to immediately drop the "clearly spurious charges" against the Tamil journalist, who spent over 470 days in detention.

 

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