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Disappointed to see Govt. backing away from ending cremation policy: US

US Ambassador to Sri Lanka Alaina B Teplitz said she was disappointed to see that the Government and Prime Minister are backing away from ending discriminatory cremation policy.

She tweeted that “People, including loved ones recently passed away, deserve more respect for their rights from a democratic government”.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Disappointed-to-see-Govt-backing-away-from-ending-cremation-policy-US/108-206094

Hizbullah and Madrasa School Principal remanded

Attorney-at-Law Hejaaz Hizbullah and Principal of Madrasa School Mohammed Shakeel were remanded till March 3 by the Fort Magistrate’s Court today.

The Attorney General yesterday directed the IGP to produce them in a relevant court under section 2 (1) (h) of the PTA and section 3(1) of the ICCPR Act.

http://www.dailymirror.lk/breaking_news/Hizbullah-and-Madrasa-School-Principal-remanded/108-206092

හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා කොටුව අධිකරණයට

(රොමේෂ් ධනුෂ්ක ද සිල්වා)

පාස්කු ප්‍රහාරය සම්බන්ධයෙන් රහස් පොලිසිය මගින් අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන මාස 10කට අධික කාලයක් රැඳවුම් නියෝග මත සිටි නීතිඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා අද(18) පස්වරුවේ කොළඹ කොටුව මහේස්ත්‍රාත් අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබීය.

හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා සමඟ අත්අඩංගුවට ගත් පුත්තලම, මද්‍රසා පාසලේ විදුහල්පති මොහොමඩ් ශකීල් මහතා ද අධිකරණයට ඉදිරිපත් කරනු ලැබිණි.

http://www.lankadeepa.lk/latest_news/%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%A2%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%B6%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%8F-%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%9C%E0%B6%A7%E0%B7%94%E0%B7%80-%E0%B6%85%E0%B6%B0%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%9A%E0%B6%BB%E0%B6%AB%E0%B6%BA%E0%B6%A7/1-586303

හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලාගේ පෙත්සම 24 දා සළකා බලයි

(තිළිණි ද සිල්වා සහ රංජන් කටුගම්පොළ)

නීතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා ගොනු කළ රිට් පෙත්සම මෙම මස 24 වැනිදා සළකා බැලීමට අභියාචනාධිකරණය අද (16) තීරණය කළේය.

පාස්කු ඉරුදින කොළඹ සිනමන් ග්‍රෑන්ඩ් හෝටලයේ සිදුවූ මරාගෙන මැරෙන බෝම්බ ප්‍රහාරය සිදුකළ බෝම්බකරු සමඟ සම්බන්ධතා පැවැත්වුයැයි කියන සිද්ධියකට සැකපිට අත්අඩංගුවට ගෙන, මාස දහයක කාලයක් රැඳවුම් නියෝග රදවා සිටින තමාව වහාම මුදාහරින්නැයි පොලිස්පතිවරයාට සහ අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුවට නියෝග කරන්නැයි ඉල්ලා මෙම පෙත්සම ගොනු කර තිබේ.

සෝභිත රාජකරුණා සහ ධම්මික ගනේපොල යන අභියාචනාධිකරණ විනිසුරු මඩුල්ල හමුවේ මෙම රිට් පෙත්සම කැඳවනු ලැබිණි.

එහිදී නීතිපති වරයාට වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටි නියෝජ්‍ය සොලිසිටර් ජෙනරාල් නෙරින් පුල්ලේ මහතා සඳහන් කළේ මෙම පෙත්සම සම්බන්ධයෙන් කරුණු දැක්වීමට පෙර එය අධ්‍යයනය කළ යුතු බවයි.

එබැවින් ඒ සඳහා කල් ලබා දෙන ලෙස ඔහු අධිකරණයෙන් ඉල්ලා සිටියේ ය. එම ඉල්ලීමට අවසර දීමට අධිකරණය තීරණය කලේය.

නීතීඥ හිජාස් හිස්බුල්ලා මහතා ගොනු කළ මෙම පෙත්සමේ වගඋත්තරකරුවන් ලෙස පොලිස්පතිවරයා, අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව සහ නීතිපති මෙහි නම් කරනු ලැබ සිටිති.

පෙත්සම්කරුගේ විමර්ශන දැනය අවසන් කර ඇති බැවින් ඔහු රදවා තබා ගැනීමේ අවශ්යමතාවයක් නොමැති බවත් , අපරාධ පරීක්ෂණ දෙපාර්තමේන්තුව මඤින් පෙත්සම්කරු සම්බන්ධයෙන් පරීක්ෂණ අවසන් කර ඇති බව අධිකරණයටද දැනුම් දී ඇති බවද පෙත්සම්කරු කියා සිටී.

නීතිඥ සනත් විජේවර්ධන මහතා ගේ උපදෙස් මත ජනාධිපති නීතීඥ රොමේෂ් ද සිල්වා මහතා පෙත්සම්කරු වෙනුවෙන් පෙනී සිටියේය.

නීතිපති වෙනුවෙන් නියෝජ්ය සොලිසිටර් ජනරාල් නෙරීන් පුල්ලේ මහතා පෙනී සිටියේය.

http://www.lankadeepa.lk/latest_news/%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B6%A2%E0%B7%8F%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A-%E0%B7%84%E0%B7%92%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%B6%E0%B7%94%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%8A%E0%B6%BD%E0%B7%8F%E0%B6%9C%E0%B7%9A-%E0%B6%B4%E0%B7%99%E0%B6%AD%E0%B7%8A%E0%B7%83%E0%B6%B8-24-%E0%B6%AF%E0%B7%8F-%E0%B7%83%E0%B7%85%E0%B6%9A%E0%B7%8F-%E0%B6%B6%E0%B6%BD%E0%B6%BA%E0%B7%92/1-586190

UK Muslims complain to UN over Sri Lanka’s cremation policy

Muslim Council of Britain leads calls for an end to the ‘unjust and discriminatory’ mandatory cremation policy.
9 Feb 2021
Muslim families in the United Kingdom whose loved ones have been cremated in Sri Lanka have submitted a complaint to the United Nations, branding the South Asian country’s controversial policy “unjust and discriminatory” and calling for its immediate suspension.

Buddhist-majority Sri Lanka made cremation mandatory last March for people who die, or are suspected to have died, with coronavirus.

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The move has deeply upset Muslims, because according to Islam, the dead should be buried.

Christians bury their dead, too, and some in Sri Lanka have also been hurt by the move, which came despite World Health Organization (WHO) guidelines which permit burials for people who die from COVID.

The UK complaint was lodged to the UN’s Human Rights Council (UNHRC) on Friday by the Muslim Council of Britain (MCB) in partnership with UK-based law firm Bindmans on behalf of the families.

Zara Mohammed, the secretary general of the MCB, described the country’s cremation policy as “unprecedented”.

“No other state has carried out such unjust and discriminatory measures,” she said in a statement issued on Monday. “We very much hope that the Sri Lankan government will change its policy in line with the World Health Organization advice.”

Tayab Ali, a partner at Bindmans who represents the MCB and the families, described the practice as “heartless”.

“Our clients were already suffering from the distress of losing a family member to COVID,” he said in a statement. “It is truly heartless for the Sri Lankan government to add to that distress by unnecessarily forcing the bodies of loved ones to be cremated.”

Ali also called for the UNHRC to “take immediate action on receipt of this complaint by granting interim measures to halt these cremations”.

UN experts urge policy rethink
The complaint said there was “no justification, on the facts, for the prohibition of burial maintained by the Sri Lankan government”.

“This has been recognised by multiple institutions of the UN,” it said. “There are, as scientific experts have already advised, multiple protection measures that can be put in place to protect public health without the blanket denial of the right of individuals to practise their religion and to be buried in accordance with their faith.”

Sri Lankan officials have claimed that bodies of COVID victims would contaminate the groundwater if buried.

But several experts have countered this claim, noting that if burial locations are well planned, the groundwater would not be affected.

In January, an expert panel appointed by Sri Lanka’s Ministry of Health said burying those who had died from COVID-19 was allowed, in line with precautions to curtail the pandemic.

UN special rapporteurs, for their part, have twice called on Sri Lanka’s government to reconsider its mandatory cremation policy in letters sent to authorities in January this year and last April.

In their latest note, UN experts said the practice ran contrary to the beliefs of Muslims and other minority communities in Sri Lanka, and could “foment existing prejudices, intolerance and violence”.

The WHO has said there is no evidence to suggest that cremation prevents the spread of coronavirus.

“While we must be alert to the serious public health challenges posed by the pandemic, COVID-19 measures must respect and protect the dignity of the dead, their cultural and religious traditions or beliefs, and their families throughout,” the UN experts said.

Critics of Sri Lankan Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa have accused his government of using the pandemic to marginalise Muslims, who make up roughly 10 percent of Sri Lanka’s 21 million people.

More than 70,000 COVID-19 infections have been recorded in Sri Lanka since the pandemic erupted, and 365 people have died after contracting the virus, according to data collated by Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine.

SOURCE : AL JAZEERA

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