{"id":85420,"date":"2013-05-03T14:38:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-03T09:08:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?p=85420"},"modified":"2013-05-09T03:00:35","modified_gmt":"2013-05-08T21:30:35","slug":"salleys-arrest-commonwealth-leaders-must-take-a-stronger-stand-against-the-gosl-amnesty","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/salleys-arrest-commonwealth-leaders-must-take-a-stronger-stand-against-the-gosl-amnesty\/","title":{"rendered":"Salley\u2019s Arrest: Commonwealth Leaders Must Take A Stronger Stand Against The GoSL &#8211; Amnesty International"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>A prominent Muslim politician and government critic arrested today in Sri Lanka must be immediately released or charged with an internationally recognizable criminal offence, Amnesty International said.<\/p>\n<p><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Azath+Salley&amp;x=6&amp;y=5\">Azath Salley<\/a><\/span>, the leader of Sri Lanka\u2019s newly formed Muslim Tamil National Alliance, was reportedly taken into custody on Thursday morning by the intelligence services for unknown reasons.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_53557\" style=\"width: 136px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/index.php\/tna-stake-the-claim-to-form-the-eastern-provincial-administration-together-with-the-slmc-and-unp\/m-azath-s-salley\/\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-53557\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-53557\" class=\"size-full wp-image-53557\" title=\"M. Azath S. Salley\" src=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/09\/M.-Azath-S.-Salley.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"126\" height=\"180\" \/><\/a><p id=\"caption-attachment-53557\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Azath Salley<\/p><\/div>\n<p>Sally has been an outspoken critic of a Buddhist organization, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Bodu+Bala+Sena&amp;x=7&amp;y=4\">Bodu Bala Sena<\/a><\/span>, which has since February 2013 allegedly attacked Muslim and Christian religious establishments and agitated against certain religious practices. \u00a0On 29 April he told journalists he was in hiding because he feared for his safety after receiving threats in state-run media.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cAzath Salley\u2019s arrest, and the harassment he has faced over the past weeks, is indicative of the climate of fear government critics in Sri Lanka are forced to live under. He must be released immediately or charged with an internationally recognisable criminal offence,\u201d said Polly Truscott, <span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\"><a href=\"http:\/\/www.colombotelegraph.com\/?s=Amnesty+International&amp;x=13&amp;y=4\">Amnesty International<\/a><\/span>\u2019s Deputy Asia Pacific Director.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cHe has been campaigning to end oppressive practices against minorities in Sri Lanka, in particular Muslims and Tamils, for which he has faced the ire of the Sri Lankan government.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSalley appears to be the latest victim in the intensifying crackdown on dissenting views we have seen in recent years, motivated by the government\u2019s desire to tighten its grip on power. Journalists, the judiciary, human rights workers and opposition politicians like Salley are among those who have been targeted through threats, harassment and vicious violent attacks.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>The Sri Lankan government remains set to host the Commonwealth Summit in November despite calls by Amnesty International and others for it to be relocated.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cCommonwealth leaders must take a stronger stand against the government\u2019s violent repression of dissent and its persistent failure to bring to justice those responsible for alleged war crimes and crimes against humanity,\u201d said Truscott.<\/p>\n<p>*Amnesty International Press releases<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p> [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":22,"featured_media":53557,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,2187,1,2375],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-85420","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-colombotelegraph","category-most-popular","category-news","category-stories"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.3 - 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