Wife presses UN over missing Sri Lanka cartoonist

AFP | Radio Netherlands Worldwide | [Photo courtesy: vikalpasl/flickr]

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The wife of missing Sri Lankan political cartoonist Prageeth Eknelygoda marked 1,000 days since his disappearance Monday with an appeal to UN chief Ban Ki-moon to intervene.

Sandhya Eknelygoda led a group of rights activists and staged a demonstration outside the United Nations offices in Colombo urging the world body to pressure Sri Lanka for information about her husband.

Sri Lanka Defence Secretary gets Delhi invite ahead of UNHRC session

By P K Balachandran | Indian Express

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The Indian government has invited Sri Lankan Defence Secretary Gotabaya Rajapaksa to New Delhi for talks, ahead of next month’s session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva, according to informed sources. The visit is expected to take place in the next few days because Sri Lanka’s case is to be taken by the UNHRC on November 1, under the Universal Periodic Review (UPR) scheme. India is in the three-nation panel which will oversee the review.

In the last session of the UNHRC in March, a US-sponsored resolution hostile to Sri Lanka was passed. In the coming session too, the council is expected to take a critical stance.

Brutality and violence sscalate in Sri Lanka

Kiri Westby | Huffington Post | [Photo coutesy: Rasmus Malm/Ottar.se] .............................................................................................................................................................................................

Sometimes winners lose.

It's a hard pill to swallow for any activist. After years of struggling to end a violent armed conflict, to usher one's country from a state of "war" to a state of "peace," that the post-war environment should emerge as more corrupt and less safe can be downright disheartening.

Sri Lankan asylum seekers' deportation halted at last minute

Shiv Malik | The Guardian
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The high court has ordered that the imminent deportation to Sri Lanka of a number of Tamils be halted amid claims they may be tortured on their return.

Three solicitors' firms have confirmed to the Guardian that a number of their clients had been given last-minute reprieves and would no longer be flown out of the country on a specially chartered UK Border Agency (UKBA) flight that was expected to be leave on Tuesday afternoon. It is understood that a further 10 to 12 firms have also lodged last-minute appeals on behalf of their clients.