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ckaihatsu
23rd November 2013, 18:33
URGENT APPEAL: RENOWNED TAMIL POET ARRESTED AND DETAINED


Dear friends,

Please see this email below from JDS Lanka. The best way to keep VIS Jayapalan from further harm at this stage is to show the Sri Lankan Government that the world is watching. So please take a few seconds to send some emails.

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URGENT APPEAL: RENOWNED TAMIL POET ARRESTED AND DETAINED

https://mail.google.com/mail/u/1/?ui=2&ik=99de3af51b&view=att&th=1428164dd8e7c00d&attid=0.1&disp=emb&realattid=ii_142813e02020e16d&zw&atsh=1


NAME: Shanmugampillai Jayapalan (better known as VIS Jayapalan)
DATE OF BIRTH: April 1944
PLACE OF BIRTH: Uduvil, Jaffna
OCCUPATION: Writer / Actor



BACKGROUND:

Shanmugampillai Jayapalan, famously known as VIS Jayapalan in the Tamil literary world, was born in Uduvil, Jaffna in north of Sri Lanka. He began his writing in the 70s while studying at the University of Jaffna and published his first anthology in 1986. Since then he has published at least 12 anthologies of poetry and short novels. As the war escalated, he fled Sri Lanka in 1988 and was granted asylum in Norway. Since then he has been living in Norway as a Norwegian citizen.

His poetry and short novels are among the prescribed text books in many universities and colleges in Tamil Nadu. In 1995, he was awarded as the best immigrant writer by the Norwegian Writers Association. His poetry has been translated into English, Norwegian as well as to Sinhala. In 2009, some of his poems were translated into English and published as a book in Canada - named 'Wilting Laughter’ - along with selected poems of two other prominent Tamil poets.

In 2011, he received a Special Jury Award for the role he played in the South Indian movie ‘Aaduka’lam’ at the 58th National Film Awards of India.


INCIDENT:

On the 9th of November, 2013 Jayapalan went to Sri Lanka. He had not visited the country since 2006. As a Tamil literary stalwart, he was interviewed by Tamil newspapers in Jaffna and was warmly welcomed by his community..

On the 22nd of October, he went to visit his ancestral home is in Vattakkadu, close to Mankulam in the northern province. He was hoping to visit his mother’s grave as he couldn’t attend her funeral when she passed away in November 2006. On his way, he was arrested by the Sri Lanka police near the area known as Vannivilankulam around noon and was brought to Vavunia, 260 kilometres (162 miles) north of Colombo. Currently he is been held at the Police Station in Vavunia. He family has not been able to communicate with him and nothing much is known about his current status.

After his arrest, the Sri Lanka Police Spokesman has told the BBC Tamil Service, that he was arrested as he was ‘disrupting the ethnic harmony in the country.’ They have accused him for 'violating the visa regulations', though they have not provided any details about the allegations.

ACTION:

Mark your protest. Please send your emails/faxes to:

1. H.E.President Mahinda Rajapaksa
Presidential Secretariat
Colombo 1, Sri Lanka
Fax: +94 11 244 6657
Email: [email protected]

2. Mr. Gotabaya Rajapaksa
Secretary - Ministry of Defence and urban development
Tele : +94 11 243 5879
Fax : +94 11 254 1529
E-mail : [email protected]

3. Mr. N K Illangakoon
Inspector General of Police
New Secretariat
Colombo 1
SRI LANKA
Fax: +94 11 2 440440 / 327877
E-mail: [email protected]


For Further Information:

Bashana Abeywardane
Coordinator - Journalists for Democracy in Sri Lanka
Email: [email protected]




--
The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice
http://srilankacampaign.org

You can donate to the campaign here

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ckaihatsu
12th April 2014, 17:01
Now that Gobi is dead, Jeyakumari must come home


Dear friends,

We have just released a statement (http://blog.srilankacampaign.org/2014/04/death-of-gobi-should-mean-release-of.html) in response to the Government of Sri Lanka's announcement that they have killed the wanted LTTE revivalist "Gobi".

As we said in that statement, "There was never any credible evidence produced to link Jeyakumari Balendran or any of the other people arrested to Gobi, and their detention had always appeared to have more to do with maintaining a climate of fear, and preventing communication with the outside world, than it did with security concerns."

"Now that Gobi is no longer at large there is no longer even the illusion of a reason to continue to detain these people. They must be released without delay."

Jeyakumari Balendran and at least 60 others remain in Boosa detention centre, a place notorious for torture. No evidence has ever been produced against any of them, and Jeyakumari at least has now been detained for a month. They must be released, and the draconian law that has been used to keep them in jail must be repealed.

If they are not, then the international community needs to take strong steps against the Sri Lankan Government. Only this will change their mind. We are suggesting that all members of the TID (Terrorist Investigation Department) - the organisation that is responsible for these detentions - be denied visas to travel abroad until Jeyakumari is released.

Please write to your Government, or your member of Parliament, and make that argument. You can contact the British here (https://email.number10.gov.uk/contact.aspx), and the Americans here (http://contact-us.state.gov/app/ask/). A sample email is included below.

Kind regards,

The Sri Lanka Campaign

Sample email

Dear xxxx,

Jeyakumari Balendran, a prominent human rights activist, and at least sixty others remain in detention in Sri Lanka's notorious Boosa prison. No evidence has ever been produced against any of them, but the Government of Sri Lanka says that it needs to question them in connection with their hunt for Selvanayagam Kajeepan AKA Gobi.

Now that Gobi has been found, these people must be released and the draconian law that has been used to keep them in jail (the PTA) must be repealed. If they are not then the international community needs to take strong steps against the Sri Lankan Government. Only this will change their mind. I suggest that all members of the TID (Terrorist Investigation Department) - the organisation that is responsible for these detentions - be denied visas to travel to our country until Jeyakumari is released.

Kind regards

--
The Sri Lanka Campaign for Peace and Justice
http://srilankacampaign.org

You can donate to the campaign here (https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?cmd=_donations&business=KL8ACR388EZGA&lc=GB&item_name=Sri%20Lanka%20Campaign%20for%20Peace%20a nd%20Justice&item_number=Website&no_note=0&cn=Add%20special%20instructions%20to%20the%20selle r&no_shipping=2&rm=1&return=http%3a%2f%2fwww%2esrilankacampaign%2eorg%2 fafterdonation%2ehtm&currency_code=GBP&bn=PP%2dDonationsBF%3abtn_donateCC_LG%2egif%3aNonH osted)

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