The head of the Roman Catholic Church in Sri Lanka sharply criticized authorities on Tuesday over concerns about deteriorating human rights on the island. Cardinal Malcolm Ranjith condemned an attack carried out Monday by armed men against the home of a television journalist who escaped unscathed.
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The cardinal also denounced the “removalthe same day, by Shehan Malaka, a rights defender, who is demanding justice for the 279 people killed in the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks. According to him, plainclothes police in a white van seized Shehan Malaka in the middle of the street, doing “evidence of barbaric and uncivil behavior by arresting a young man – Shehan Malaka – who is demanding justice for the victims of the Easter attacks“.
“If he hadn’t had the presence of mind to use his phone for a live (stream) (on social media), we never would have known what happened to him.“, added the leader of the minority Catholic community of Sri Lanka in front of the press in Colombo, “he would have disappeared“. The white vans were frequently used to abduct people during the previous Rajapaksa administration, when thousands of people disappeared.
Shehan Malaka was brought before a magistrate and released on bail on Tuesday. The police motivated the arrest of the young man by his “hate speechwhich would have brought the government into disrepute. Last year, Shehan Malaka had also spearheaded a campaign by the Catholic Church to denounce the slowness of police investigations into the Easter attacks, which had targeted three churches and three luxury hotels.
Local Muslim fundamentalists have been held responsible for the attacks, but authorities have failed to identify the perpetrators. Sri Lanka’s overall human rights record is deteriorating, the Prelate said, urging his followers to remain vigilant and seek legal action. Sri Lanka is on the agenda this month at the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva, which has repeatedly condemned Colombo for failing to live up to commitments to hold accountable for abuses during the civil war in the country.
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“Why are they behaving like this as they prepare to defend their record in Geneva? asked Cardinal Ranjith, and added:i think they have no brains“.