Anojan Sivarasa Escaped the Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia. His Legal Battle Is Far From Over.

Anojan Sivarasa Escaped the Death Penalty in Saudi Arabia. His Legal Battle Is Far From Over.

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Anojan Sivarasa, the Sri Lankan migrant worker whose death sentence was overturned this week by Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court, is due to appear before a lower court on Oct. 17 in proceedings that will determine whether he is punished again, how severely, and when he might return home. The Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the death sentence and an earlier five-year prison term were set aside, according to Faiszer Musthapha, a Sri Lankan lawmaker and President’s Counsel involv


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Flu Cases Climb in Sri Lanka, and Officials Warn Those Most at Risk
Dr. Palitha Karunapema

Flu Cases Climb in Sri Lanka, and Officials Warn Those Most at Risk

By Asela Kuruluwansha COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — More than a third of hospital patients tested for respiratory illness in Sri Lanka recently were found to have influenza, health officials said, as they urged pregnant women, young children and older people with chronic illnesses to take extra care. Samples from patients admitted to hospitals with fever, cough, cold and body aches were tested at the Medical Research Institute in Colombo, and about 35 percent were positive for the flu, said Dr. Palitha


Asela Kuruluwansha.

Asela Kuruluwansha.

Widowed in Indonesia, a Sri Lankan Tamil Refugee Asks to Be Sent Home
File photo: Refugees demonstrate outside the United Nations refugee agency’s office in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Aug. 12, 2024, demanding solutions to years of uncertainty over their future. The protest reflects the prolonged displacement faced by thousands of refugees in Indonesia. Photograph: Andrean Kristianto/Bloomberg Technoz.

Widowed in Indonesia, a Sri Lankan Tamil Refugee Asks to Be Sent Home

JAFFNA, Sri Lanka — A Sri Lankan Tamil widow who has lived as a refugee in Indonesia since 2014 has publicly appealed for help returning home, saying that the organization that paid for her housing and food is ending its support and that she and her daughter may soon have nothing to eat. Geethabanu Pranavan, who is from Point Pedro on the northern tip of the Jaffna Peninsula, said in a Facebook post that she and her daughter, Anchana, had been registered with the United Nations refugee agency,


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Sentenced to Die Over a Facebook Comment, Sri Lankan Worker Anojan Sivarasa Wins Reprieve

Sentenced to Die Over a Facebook Comment, Sri Lankan Worker Anojan Sivarasa Wins Reprieve

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka, Oct. 15 – Saudi Arabia’s Supreme Court has overturned the death sentence of a Sri Lankan migrant worker convicted of insulting the Prophet Muhammad in a Facebook comment and has ordered his case to be heard again, according to a Sri Lankan lawmaker who worked on the appeal. The ruling, issued on Wednesday, also set aside the five-year prison sentence that a trial court had originally imposed on the worker, Anojan Sivarasa, 27, a Tamil from Sri Lanka’s Eastern Province. It ca


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UNAFRAID AND UNBOWED

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

Archbishop, Archbishop, why hast thou forsaken us in our hour of sorrow and slaughter?

"Cry aloud, spare not, lift up thy voice like a trumpet, and shew my people their transgression, and the house of Jacob their sins." - Isaiah 58:1 His Eminence Malcolm Cardinal Ranjith, Archbishop of Colombo and chief shepherd of the Catholic flock in all of Sri Lanka, has recently marked fifty years in the sacred priesthood. As the highest-ranking prelate whose dominion spans the entire island, he now stands as a mighty voice crying for justice, calling upon the nations of the earth for interv


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Jaffna Library Burning: The Day They Burned the buddha and his dhamma

Why South Asia Reveres Books-and Fears Their Destruction Irrespective of religion, across the Indian subcontinent, books have long held an exalted status. In the indigenous spiritual traditions that emerged from this land-Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, and Sikhism-knowledge is not merely valued; it is venerated in the highest order. In homes, temples, and schools across the region, people treat books with profound reverence-never touching them with their feet, and if done accidentally, offering a


Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Aruliniyan Mahalingam

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

Chemmani: Where Justice Was Buried

The dead do not speak - but the earth does A few years ago, I visited Cambodia. My original aim was to see the Angkor Wat temple complex. But, as always, my journalistic instincts led me deeper into rural Cambodia, where I found myself in quiet conversations with a few former soldiers of the Pol Pot regime, now living ordinary lives as toddy tappers, farmers, and small shop owners. One of them - a former henchman of the Khmer Rouge - opened up after a few glasses of toddy. In a hauntingly calm


Kaniyan Pungundran

Kaniyan Pungundran

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Sri Lankan Government Seeks New Anti-Terrorism Powers to Curb Ethnic Nationalism, Minister Says

Sri Lankan Government Seeks New Anti-Terrorism Powers to Curb Ethnic Nationalism, Minister Says

By Asela Kuruluwansa KANDY, Sri Lanka — A senior Sri Lankan cabinet minister said on Wednesday that the government needed new antiterrorism powers to prevent a revival of ethnic nationalism. His comments were an unusually direct explanation of the rationale behind legislation intended to replace the country’s Prevention of Terrorism Act. “Ethnic nationalism is still lurking in our country. It has not disappeared,” said the minister, K.D. Lal Kantha, who holds the agriculture, livestock, lands


Asela Kuruluwansha.

Asela Kuruluwansha.

‘Why Drag My Family Into This?’ Pardoned Priest Challenges Tamil Nationalist Page
Hindu priest Chandra Iyer Ragupathi Sharma is released from prison in October 2022 after spending about 22 years in custody in connection with the 1999 assassination attempt on former President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga.

‘Why Drag My Family Into This?’ Pardoned Priest Challenges Tamil Nationalist Page

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Hindu priest who spent about 22 years in prison in connection with the 1999 assassination attempt on President Chandrika Bandaranaike Kumaratunga has asked a Tamil nationalist Facebook page to stop publicising his case, saying the renewed attention has threatened the life he has rebuilt since his release. In an open letter posted on Facebook on Tuesday, the priest, Brahmasri Chandra Iyer Ragupathi Sharma, asked the page, Inam Ondrin Kural, or Voice of a Race, to stop usin


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Batticaloa MP Returns to Court Over Encroachment on Cattle Grazing Land

Batticaloa MP Returns to Court Over Encroachment on Cattle Grazing Land

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka: A member of Parliament from Batticaloa District has asked the Court of Appeal to reopen a case over the occupation of traditional cattle grazing land in the Eastern Province, saying state authorities did not carry out assurances given to the court that encroachers would be removed. Shanakiyan Rasamanickam filed an application seeking to revive proceedings the court closed several years ago. According to the application, people occupying the Mayilathamadu and Mathavanai grazi


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Opposition’s Tamil Ally Presses Premadasa Over Kiriella’s Remarks on Minorities

Opposition’s Tamil Ally Presses Premadasa Over Kiriella’s Remarks on Minorities

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — A Tamil party allied with Sri Lanka’s main opposition has asked the opposition leader, Sajith Premadasa, to act after Lakshman Kiriella, a senior figure in Mr. Premadasa’s party, described the government’s handling of a jailed Buddhist monk’s case as an effort to appease Tamil-speaking citizens. Mano Ganesan, the leader of the Tamil Progressive Alliance, made the request in a letter to Mr. Premadasa, whose Samagi Jana Balawegaya, or S.J.B., leads the coalition the T.P.A. be


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