Stop-Torture-Report

“I witnessed the security forces interrogating people in Manik Farm camp and
taking them away in vehicles. I saw people being beaten on some occasions,
especially by CID people who had their own tents for questioning people. I saw
masked informers operating in the camp who were to taken to the CID tent to
identify people. The officers involved in this were dressed in military uniform
and plain clothes. I also saw informers there who were not masked and whom
others told me were ex LTTE but I didn't recognise any of them from my time in
the Vanni. I realised they were informers from the way they operated with the
security forces and how others were frightened when they came.”
(Witness 90)
Another NGO employee who survived the war also saw people being arrested in
Manik Farm after informers came; he too was later abducted in a “white van”
and tortured and sexually abused:
“When in the camp, I saw people being taken away by the army after masked
men were brought into the tents to identify cadres. I did not know those taken,
there were about 4-5 of them that I saw taken in this manner. That is the last
time I ever saw them. They were all males. I heard that the men and women
were taken inside the buildings in the camp occupied by the army and tortured
and sexually abused. These interrogations took place in the daytime.”
(Witness 36)
A UN worker also described the interrogation areas in Manik Farm:
“I heard from IDP’s that the girls were generally taken away at night time but
returned during the day. Over the time I was working inside the camps, I saw
five or six young women coming out of these questioning areas alone. Their
family members would wait in the general area for their relatives to come out.
On those occasions that I saw women leaving the isolated areas of the camp, I
could see the women were crying and they appeared distressed.”
(Witness Number Withheld for Witness Protection Reasons)
71