Stop-Torture-Report

C. Reprisals and Persecution
Surveillance and Intimidation of Witnesses
- Families of Sri Lankan torture survivors who have fled abroad are
routinely harassed by the security forces.
- Surveillance and intimidation has continued unabated after the 8
January 2015 elections.
- Among survivors interviewed in 2014 and 2015, at least a quarter of
family members in Sri Lanka of witnesses abroad suffered violence
ranging from beatings to torture, gang rape, disappearance and even
death.
- Revenge attacks occurred against those who protested about family
members when the UK Prime Minister visited Jaffna in 2013.
Warnings to Keep Silent
In many cases, survivors of torture have been expressly warned by the security
forces not to communicate with foreigners or provide outsiders evidence of war
crimes or the abuse they suffered in detention. However, they are encouraged
to tell other Tamils to spread the sense of fear, like this woman detained in
2013:
“One woman guard there would say 'Go and tell your people how you have been
tortured so that they will never be an LTTE, it should not even be in anyone’s
dream to form an LTTE, we will torture you again.' When I was released this
guard told me that if I told any foreigners about what happened she would
abduct my children. She said the only ones I should tell were other Tamil
women so that they would never rise up again.”
(Witness 32)
The US State Department 2014 report on Sri Lanka also stated that:
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