Several hundred Tamils are reported to have been arrested and detained by security forces for questioning following the bomb blasts in Colombo.
Sources
Police arrest ‘over 900 Tamils’, BBC Sinhala, 2 December 2007; Urgent Action Needed to End Abuses in Sri Lanka, Letter to Human Rights Council from Human Rights Watch, 7 December 2007.
“The Sri Lankan police conducted mass arrests of more than 1,000 Tamils, allegedly in response to the suicide bombings carried out in Colombo on 28 November. The arrests were made on arbitrary and discriminatory grounds using sweeping powers granted by emergency regulations. According to reports, “Tamils were bundled in bus loads and taken for interrogation”. More than 400 of those arrested, including 50 women, were taken to the Boosa Camp near Galle in the south, a facility reputed to be overcrowded, and lacking proper sanitation facilities and adequate drinking water.” Amnesty International Report, 2008.
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