Sri Lanka’s Special Task Force will take over security and investigations at three major Colombo prisons, Colombo Page reports.

The security and investigations at Welikada, Colombo Remand and Magazine prison have been handed over to the STF effective from next month.

Several Tamil political prisoners are and have historically been detained at Magazine and Welikada, notorious for riots and massacres, prisons. The STF also stands accused of serious human rights abuses including torture and extra-judicial killings.

An Indian national was arrested on Tuesday over an alleged plot to kill the Sri Lankan president, Maithripala Sirisena. 

Marsili Thomas was arrested under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), whilst visiting the residence of the Anti-Corruption Movement Operations Director, Namal Kumara. 

According to local reports the former director of the Terrorism Investigation Division, Nalaka Silva had discussed a plan to assassinate Sirisena. 

Read more here and here. 

Students at the Eastern University in Batticaloa yesterday evening marked the 31st anniversary of Lt Col Thileepan's fast unto death. 

Remembering the sacrifice he made, students lit lamps and paid tribute to Thileepan and his hunger strike. 

A court in Kilinochchi on Tuesday ordered huts built by fishermen from the South who had been fishing illegally to be removed and for the fishermen to leave from Vadamaradchchi East.

The court issued the order to eight organisations who had failed to seek permission from the divisional secretariat at Maruthenkeni and had staying on government land illegally. 

Thirty-two huts are to be removed and 850 Southern fishermen have been ordered to vacate the area. 

The court case follows a case filed by the Maruthenkeni Divisional Secretariat. 

An organisation of Sinhala Buddhist monks have spoken out against Sri Lanka’s president, stating that despite his call at the United Nations against ‘foreign influence’ they remain wary of an international accountability mechanism for war crimes.

“President Sirisena has guaranteed us that he would not let any authority to implement laws against soldiers,” claimed National Academic Bhikshu Forum (NABF) Convener Maduruoye Dhammissara. “However, such laws were implemented soon after President Sirisena’s guarantee of not doing so.”

The Sri Lankan government’s continued denial over the military’s use of cluster munitions is an “ever increasing affront to victims” said the International Truth and Justice Project, after Sri Lanka was chosen to head the Convention on Cluster munitions earlier this month.

The Sri Lankan navy yesterday arrested two Tamil youths who were fishing in Kankesanthurai, Jaffna. 

The navy has claimed 28kg cannabis was found during the arrest, which took place in the early morning. 

The two youths have been handed over the police.  

Tamils across the North-East held local events to remember the death of Lt Col Thileepan on September 26, 1987, after he fasted unto death in protest at the Indian government's failure to fulfil its pledges to the Tamil people.

Students and faculty members at the University Jaffna gathered at the campus grounds this morning, to mark the passing of Lt Col Thileepan, a senior political LTTE leader who fasted to death 31 years ago.

As crowds gathered Thileepan's famous 1987 speech, where he laid out his demands to the Indian government, was also played on a screen to the audience, as well as a speech by LTTE leader V Prabhakaran.

Hundreds gathered in Nallur this morning to mark 31 years since the death of Lt Col Thileepan, a political wing leader of the LTTE who fasted to death.

Senior Tamil politicians including the leader of the ITAK, TNA MP Mavai Senathirajah, the mayor of Jaffna Emmanuel Arnold and leaders of the TNPF were present at the commemoration, held at the now destroyed Thileepan memorial in Jaffna.