KILINOCHCHI, Sri Lanka- Sivagnanam Shritharan, a senior lawmaker from Sri Lanka’s main Tamil political party, urged the government on Saturday to make an urgent effort to save Sivarasa Anojan, a Sri Lankan Tamil worker reportedly sentenced to death in Saudi Arabia over a Facebook comment about the Prophet Muhammad. Mr. Shritharan said the comment that landed Mr. Anojan in trouble had been written in response to another Sri Lankan social media user who, according to him, had first made a derogat

COLOMBO, Sept. 19 — Sri Lankan authorities have asked Interpol to help locate Basil Rajapaksa, the former finance minister and founder of the Sri Lanka Podujana Peramuna, who has remained overseas for more than a year while two magistrates’ courts have ordered his arrest. Public Security Minister Ananda Wijepala said a Blue Notice had been issued in respect of Rajapaksa, enabling international law enforcement agencies to obtain information about his identity, location or activities in connectio

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — M.A. Sumanthiran said Saturday that two concerns led him to withhold his signature from a joint opposition declaration against Sri Lanka's proposed 22nd Amendment: the document had not been given to him in advance, and his party had reservations about aligning with politicians who had acted against the independence of the judiciary in the past. “The story is not different,” Mr. Sumanthiran, the general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, or ITAK, wrote in the comme

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka — Several opposition leaders who attended Thursday’s meeting against Sri Lanka’s proposed 22nd Amendment have disputed published accounts of why M.A. Sumanthiran declined to sign a joint declaration, saying the explanation he gave inside the meeting was that he needed time to consult his party before committing it to the document. Jaffna Monitor reported after the meeting that Mr. Sumanthiran, the general secretary of the Ilankai Tamil Arasu Kadchi, or ITAK, had declined to s