Sri Lankan doctors at risk of torture

Amnesty International today issued an urgent action appeal on the five Sri Lankan doctors currently being held by the government under emergency regulations.  We are concerned that they are at risk of torture or other ill-treatment.  The doctors had provided medical services to civilians trapped in the war zone, during the last stages of the war earlier this year between the government and the opposition Tamil Tigers.  Before they were detained by the government on May 15, the doctors had provided eyewitness accounts to the media of the suffering experienced by the trapped civilians.  On July 8, while still under detention, the doctors appeared at a press conference organized by the government and retracted their earlier reports.  AI is concerned about how genuine their later statments were.  The doctors remain in detention without charge.

Amnesty is calling on the Sri Lankan government to release the doctors immediately, unless they are to be promptly charged with a recognizable criminal offense.  Please join our appeal and write the government on their behalf.  Write to:  President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Presidential Secretariat, Colombo 1, Sri Lanka; email:  [email protected].

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6 thoughts on “Sri Lankan doctors at risk of torture

  1. Amnesty is aware that four of the doctors have been released on bail; Dr. S. Sivapalan has not been released and is still at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. We're still calling for the Sri Lankan government to either release Dr. Sivapalan immediately or charge him with a recognizable criminal offense. We also ask that the safety of the other four doctors be assured by the government and that it revise the emergency regulations (under which the doctors have been detained) to bring them in line with international standards.

  2. Amnesty is aware that four of the doctors have been released on bail; Dr. S. Sivapalan has not been released and is still at risk of torture or other ill-treatment. We’re still calling for the Sri Lankan government to either release Dr. Sivapalan immediately or charge him with a recognizable criminal offense. We also ask that the safety of the other four doctors be assured by the government and that it revise the emergency regulations (under which the doctors have been detained) to bring them in line with international standards.

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