Sri Lanka’s foreign minister Vijitha Herath has reiterated that Colombo will not permit any international role in investigating past human rights violations, as he prepares to address the upcoming 60th session of the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) in Geneva.

Members of the Israel–Sri Lanka Friendship Development Organisation staged a protest outside the United Nations office in Colombo this week, publicly rallying behind Israel as it continues its assault on Gaza.

Former Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa and his former presidential secretary Saman Ekanayake are to be summoned by the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) to make statements in connection with two separate cases.

Former minister and Sinhala nationalist Udaya Gammanpila has fled to Thailand as he faces arrest in Sri Lanka over remarks in which he used the word “kotiya” — a term widely recognised as a derogatory slur against Tamils.

Sri Lanka’s Minister Bimal Rathnayake has come under criticism after remarks he made at an event to mark the International Day of the Disappeared at Temple Trees on Friday, where he referred to victims’ campaigns as “dramas” staged around September to coincide with the UN Human Rights Council (UNHRC) sessions in Geneva.

Five high-profile underworld figures who were arrested in Indonesia and repatriated to Sri Lanka last night, are being held and interrogated under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), police confirmed today.

Sri Lanka’s Foreign Minister Vijitha Herath has issued a stern response to remarks made by Indian actor-turned-politician C. Joseph Vijay, who recently called for the retrieval of Katchatheevu island to protect Tamil Nadu’s fishermen.

Amazon UK has confirmed it has removed from sale the memoir of Sri Lanka’s former navy chief Wasantha Karannagoda, who remains sanctioned in the UK for command responsibility over “human rights violations including illegal killings and activities amounting to torture.”

On the eve of Sri Lankan president Anura Kumara Dissanayake’s visit to Myiliddy, boats belonging to Tamil Nadu fishermen were demolished with JCB machinery and removed from the harbour premises.