The abduction of activists and relief workers has undercut the message of compromise and reconciliation from the president of Sri Lanka, Mahinda Rajapaksa, rights groups said yesterday.
They highlighted the kidnapping of Stephen Sunthararaj, of the centre for human rights and development in Colombo, snatched by men in military uniform on 7 May while in his lawyer's car in the capital. He had just been released without charge from police custody as there was no evidence implicating him in any offence, was abducted a few hours later, and has not been seen since. Amnesty International fears he was seized because of his work.
Meanwhile, the government was continuing to hold three doctors it accused of providing false casualty figures during the conflict.
There is concern over the fate of an administrative officer, Vany Kumar, understood to be in custody. She last week provided graphic eyewitness testimony of shelling in the so-called no-fire zone when the Tamil Tigers made their last stand.
Critics accuse the government of stifling dissent and trampling on press freedoms in the name of fighting terrorism. To allay such criticism, Rajapaksa has pledged elections in northern Sri Lanka as soon as possible.
In the UK, one former aid worker is on a hunger strike outside the US embassy in London in the hope of persuading Barack Obama to intervene. Tim Martin, a director of the campaign group Act Now!, wants the US president to call for UN monitors and independent media to be allowed into the island's north-east to gauge the humanitarian situation.
Even before the latest upheaval, the UN human rights council expressed concern over the high number of "enforced disappearances", saying it had received 212 reports of disappearances last year and expressing concern many more may be unreported for fear of reprisals.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/may/20/sri-lanka-activists-relief-abductions