A former political prisoner from Vavuniya, Selvanayagam Ananthavarnan, has been summoned by Sri Lanka's Terrorism Investigation Department (TID) on June 7th.
Ananthavarnan, who was previously imprisoned under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), has been ordered to present himself at the Vavuniya branch of the department. Although he he has been told that he needs to submit a statement for a TID investigation, he has not been told what the investigation is about.
The PTA has been criticised by Tamil civil society, politicians and international human rights groups for its broad powers and for being used to detain predominantly Tamils and Muslims. The PTA denies fundamental due process rights and removes safeguards that would help protect detainees from abuse whilst in detention.
Political prisoners often continue to face various forms of harassment and intimidation from the Sri Lanka's police and military even after they have been released.