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Message: <blockquote data-quote="ramarajan" data-source="post: 1603374" data-attributes="member: 86701">In May a group of parliamentary security guards abducted a wealthy Muslim businessman from Colombo. They lured him to a Kandy hotel with the promise of a business deal, transported him to a secret safe house in Kandy, and extorted from his family a ransom of $200,000 (22.5 million rupees) before releasing him. On June 6, opposition MP Lakshman Seniviratne publicly accused government Defense Spokesman and Minister of Foreign Employment Promotion and Welfare Keheliya Rambukwella's body guards of committing the act. Rambukwella denied responsibility. There was no investigation into the incident.There was no progress on disappearances from 2006, including the May disappearance of eight Tamil men from a Hindu Temple in Jaffna District while security personnel were seen at the temple. There were no indictments, investigations, or prosecutions of security force personnel for past disappearances. The government disbanded the 2004 Presidential CoI dealing with 16,305 past cases of disappearance.During the year the LTTE continued to detain civilians, often requiring individuals to fight government security forces against their will. Credible sources also alleged that the LTTE required individuals to purchase the right to leave LTTE‑controlled territory.In addition to politically motivated abductions, there were dozens of kidnappings‑for‑ransom, with payment demands ranging from $20,000 (2.25 million rupees) to $750,000 (60.6 million rupees). Although initially the problem appeared limited to the Tamil business community, in June and July dozens of Muslim businessmen were kidnapped for ransom, the vast majority of whom were released after ransom was paid. However, less than half of Tamil businessmen kidnapped for ransom were released after the ransom was paid.c. Torture and Other Cruel, Inhuman, or Degrading Treatment or PunishmentThe law makes torture a punishable offense but does not implement several provisions of the UN Convention Against Torture. If convicted of torture, the law mandates a sentence of not less than seven years' imprisonment. However, in the few publicized torture convictions since 2004, the individuals were released on bail pending an appeal rather than serving the minimum seven-year sentence. Human rights groups maintained that while torture is prohibited under specific circumstances, it was allowed under others. According to credible sources, including UN Special Rapporteur (UNSR) on Torture Manfred Nowak, the use of torture by police and security forces to extract admissions and confessions was endemic and conducted with impunity. In addition, the emergency regulations make confessions obtained under any circumstance, including by torture, sufficient to detain a person until the individual is brought to court. On October 29, following his one week assessment mission to the country, Nowak attributed the lack of convictions for torture to the absence of effective investigation, inadequate protection for victims and witnesses of torture, and an excessive minimum sentence for torture. He stated also that the police used threats of violence or fabrication of criminal cases to prevent the victims of torture by police officers from filing complaints. Nowak added that detainees reported that the magistrates did not provide them an opportunity to complain about police torture while the perpetrators often accompanied the victims to courts and remained present during medical examinations.Methods of torture and abuse reportedly included beatings, often with sticks, iron bars or hose; electric shock; suspending individuals by the wrists or feet in contorted positions; burning with metal objects and cigarettes; genital abuse; blows to the ears; asphyxiation with plastic bags containing chili pepper or gasoline; and near‑drowning. Detainees reported broken bones and other serious injuries as a result of their mistreatment. UNSR Nowak singled out the Terrorist Investigative Department facility in Boossa for including the "fullest manifestation" of torture methods.On October 27, an Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) study of 48 police torture cases in the south revealed that the reasons for torture included obtaining bribes, favoring a second party, preventing a complaint that may lead to a criminal inquiry, failing to comply with traffic rules, and asking a police officer a question.In the conflict-affected north and east, military intelligence and other security personnel, sometimes working with armed paramilitaries, carried out documented and undocumented detentions of civilians suspected of LTTE connections. The detentions were followed by severe interrogations, frequently including torture. When the interrogations failed to produce evidence, detainees were often released with a warning not to reveal information about their arrests and threatened with re-arrest or with death if they divulged information about their detention. Some were killed by masked gunmen on motorcycles immediately after leaving these military facilities on foot. As UNSR Nowak reported, the military denied holding detainees at its facilities and did not grant him access to investigate claims of torture by military forces.The government instructed SLHRC officials not to provide information to foreign embassies or other inquirers concerning alleged human rights violations. As a result, there were no accurate, publicly available statistics on reported torture cases, and no public information of any torture cases under investigation. The government did not publish a report of pending charges, convictions, or sentences of those accused of committing torture.On January 3, military intelligence officers abducted and tortured Arunakirinathan Niruparajh, a Tamil student‑faculty member of Jaffna University, for 10 days before releasing him. Doctors at Jaffna University Teaching Hospital operated on Niruparajh to repair damage to his hands and back, but his left arm remained paralyzed. He fled to India. No charges were filed against any military intelligence officer.On May 11, army officers arrested Jaffna University art student Sivaraja Pakeerathan and held him without trial or bail for several months under the emergency regulations and the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA). Pakeerathan alleged that army officers and police in Jaffna beat him, Kankesanthurai police personnel shackled him continuously for 14 days, and Colombo police tortured him. The government acknowledged Pakeerathan's arrest, denied he was tortured, and did not launch an investigation.There was no reported progress on torture cases from 2006, including the arrest and torture of farmer Suddage Sirisena at the Kekirawa Police Station; the 2005 trial of three police officers indicted by the Kurunegala High Court for the 2002 alleged torture and sexual abuse of Nandini Herat; and the 2005 torture cases against police involving the victims Hevana Hennadige Priyadarshana Fernando and Jayasekara Vithanage Saman Priyankara.On November 3, 111 Sri Lankan troops working in Haiti on a UN peacekeeping mission were sent home on disciplinary grounds. Even though the high-level Sri Lankan investigation of the allegations continues and UN Headquarters has not released a final report, 108 of the troops were accused of "transactional" sexual exploitation or sexual involvement with minors.</blockquote>

Verification: Dahaya deken beduwama keeyada?

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