Amnesty International has declared short-story writer Shakthika Sathkumara a ‘prisoner of conscience and urged the Government of Sri Lanka to effect his immediate release.
A SLPP affiliated website has published a document today morning (01) relating to the official relinquishment of Gotabhaya Rajapaksa's US citizenship. According to that report, Rajapaksa’s citizenship has been revoked by the US government on April 17, 2019 and cancelled on May 03, 2019.
A majority of the United National Party (UNP) parliamentarians claim that the political alliance under the name of Democratic National Front, which is being formed by Minister Rajitha Senaratne with the blessings of UNP Leader, Prime Minister Ranil Wickremesinghe, would result in the dissolution of the UNP as a political force.
A document purported to be issued by the US State Department confirming that it has approved Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s request to relinquish his citizenship has been widely distributed on social media this week, leading it to becoming a hot topic and queries if it is in fact an original or fake document.
Gotabhaya Rajapaksa’s lawyers and the Sinhala - Buddhist ‘National Organizations Collective’ has commenced a well planned
US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B. Teplitz has sent an urgent letter to President Maithripala Sirisena seeking his intervention to get the Cabinet of Ministers to approve the proposed US Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC) Compact.
Rumours are rife that wife of former president Mahinda Rajapaksa, Shiranthi Rajapaksa is one among five possible presidential candidates of the SLPP, weekly Sinhala Newspaper Anidda reports. According to the report, the names are being kept under wraps despite being widely discussed among party members.
UN Special Rapporteur on the Rights to Freedom of Peaceful Assembly and Association, Clément Nyaletsossi Voule notes that while there is legislation in place to combat hate speech, especially in the aftermath of the Easter Sunday attacks, including under the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) Act of 2007, the legislation is not applied with an even hand.
