Eight prisoners in Anuradhapura have been fasting since September 14, 2018, nearly a month now. Two more inmates joined their fast since the end of September. There are political and legal differences on what to call these prisoners. Some call them political prisoners, others call them Terrorists, and some others, Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) detainees. Whether they were imprisoned because of their politics, or are suspected to have broken the law, a fact remains, unlike most other suspects of offences in this country, they have continued to remain in prison for over nine years, without bail while their trials have dragged on indefinitely. This is due to the law, the PTA which enables the State to detain persons indefinitely even without a Court pronouncing them guilty.
When I, on behalf of the Liberation Movement,visited Anuradhapura prison on Saturday (6), I was hoping to meet with all the prisoners who were fasting. However, I was only able to meet four prisoners. The hunger fast has started to take a toll on the health of the prisoners, and I was told that six could not see me as they were too weak to meet or talk. Some of them had agreed to intake saline but, some others have refused. A few had been admitted to hospital due to deteriorating health conditions. Despite this, they remain steadfast in their demand - ‘Please tell people who are concerned outside, that we either want an immediate release, or an unconditional release following a short period in rehabilitation. We have been here for more than nine years, and our cases have dragged on unfairly without an end….’ said Madirasan Sulaxan, one of the protestors.
This is the second time Sulaxan together with Rasathurai Thiruvarul have been on a hunger fast. On the first occasion in 2017, their cases, being heard at the Vavuniya High Court, were suddenly transferred to the Anuradhapura High Courts, citing the safety of the Sinhala witnesses who were to testify in the case. However, no further information was disclosed publicly on the nature of the threats which warranted a hasty transfer from a Court administered in the Tamil language,to a Court administered in Sinhala. Sulaxan and two others connected to the cases which were transferred, went on a hunger strike, in protest of the move. Subsequently, their cases were transferred back to Vavuniya.
Political prisoners have strong reasons to object to their cases being heard in Courts administered in Sinhala, as prisoners have consistently raised concerns that they don’t understand court proceedings, that very little effort is taken on the part of the Court or the lawyers appearing for the suspects to explain the details of the case to them, and that it is expensive to retain Tamil speaking lawyers in Courts functioning in Sinhala.
The events which took place on October 4, 2018, as narrated by Jeyachandran, a fasting prisoner is a case in point. Jeyanchandran and Sivaseelan have cases pending in the Anuradhapura High Court. Prior to this Court hearing, during a visit by M.A.Sumanthiran, MP, to the Anuradhapura prison on September 17, the fasting prisoners had spoken to him and placed their concerns and demands. The TNA MP had promised to discuss their grievances with authorities, and find solutions for them. On October 3, 2018, hopes were high among the fasting prisoners, including Jeyachandran and Sivaseelan, as they had received information through the media and other sources, that subsequent to a discussion, MP Sumanthiran had with the Attorney General’s Department, and the Justice Minister, it was decided, their cases would be concluded, and they would be sent for rehabilitation, if they plead guilty. It was with this expectation Jeyachandran and Sivaseelan went to Courts on October 4.
However, what eventually transpired at the Courts was a nightmare, says Jeyachandran. Their cases were called three times during the day. On all three occasions, they were asked to plead guilty, and were told, if they did so, they would be sentenced to 16 years imprisonment, and rehabilitation, thereafter. Jeyachandran says he felt pressured by the Judge, the State Counsels and even their own lawyer. It seems, the instructions were to conclude their cases, and the entire judicial system was functioning to make sure that they plead guilty so that their cases could be closed. Both prisoners had refused to succumb to pressure, despite feeling confused in a Court where all events were taking place in Sinhala. They had not pleaded guilty that day. They managed to inform the Judge what they heard in the media was different to what was happening in Court, and that they were promised rehabilitation. The Judge had said he had received no such instructions from the AG’s Department, and that he could not act according to media reports. Therefore, the case was re-fixed to be called in November.
‘After this incident, we fear our cases too will come to the same conclusion. We feel,we have been lied to and misled’ said Aravindan who commenced fasting on September 30. After what happened to Jeyachandran and Sivaseelan I was told the fasting prisoners are slowly loosing hope that they would obtain justice in their cases. The four prisoners who I met, said, they decided to go on a hunger fast, after years of waiting and hoping for the justice machinery to move fast. However, after many years of the cases being only called in the Magistrate’s Courts, and in the case of Thillairaj, even after his confession, was dismissed in one Court as inadmissible, cases have dragged on. This is what drove them to desperate measures in the hope that at least now, their plight will catch the attention of the indifferent State authorities.
The Authorities, including the Government, has treated the issue of political prisoners as a ‘political’ one, and yet has resorted to finding solutions through strict legal means. Thus, though general pardon was granted to all JVP cardres in the 1990s, the Government has explicitly refused to grant general pardon to Tamil political prisoners.
Government authorities have insisted that general pardon is not possible because they were arrested under the PTA. However, when one looks at the PTA, often described as a draconian piece of legislation, one finds that the Act itself contravenes basic protections provided to the accused in criminal law. The PTA is a legislation which should not remain within the statute book of any functioning democracy. In essence, once a person is suspected by the Minister to be a terrorist, that person is deemed a terrorist, and held in detention until proven innocent. The Minister needs no justification to form his suspicion, and no Court can challenge the Minister’s decision. Counter terrorism Acts such as the PTA, do not provide even basic protections offered under ordinary criminal law, such as, the inadmissibility of confessions made to executive authorities, the right of appeal against any judicial order, and the right to bail, as a rule. The PTA removes all of these checks, and puts an individual against the entire state machinery, to prove his/her innocence. In other words, the PTA is an ‘unlawful law’, similar to those enacted under the Nazi Regime in Germany and in Apartheid South Africa. In this regard, any arrest which takes place under the PTA and any legal processes which follow thereafter, takes place under this unlawful law, and is therefore‘unlawful’.
Reconciliation with a community who have long been victims of State racism, brutalised and torn as a result of a 30 year war, does not come from symbolic promises made in the Human Rights Council in Geneva. It should come through tangible acts by the Government within the country, such as the release of all political prisoners, and the complete repeal of the PTA. The Government till today has shown little political will to do either. However, the struggle of the political prisoners has brought out small acts of solidarity from the South, on which the hope for a peaceful future of our country hinges.The ‘Movement for the Release of Political Prisoners’, an organisation based in the South, has been continuously campaigning to release all political prisoners. On October5, a protest was held outside the Anuradhapura prison, and on September 27, a similar protest was held in Colombo, in solidarity with the hunger strikers. News of these solidarity protests travel inside the prison walls, and the fasting prisoners also said that students from the Rajarata University visited them.
Left political parties, trade unions and civil rights activists from the South have come forward for the political prisoners this time around, marking a change in Southern politics. However, the political prisoners are still waiting for the Government to be moved by pleas and protests in the North and South. Time is running out for the prisoners on hunger strike, as well as for the Government which has betrayed its mandate for reconciliation.
*Swasthika Arulingam is a member of the Liberation Movement, a collective of women fighting against all forms of oppression, emphasising the centrality of women’s liberation for any movement for democracy, freedom and liberation from oppressive structures.