A three member bench of Sri Lanka's Supreme Court, dismissed a petition against the blocking of five news websites, including Srilanka Mirror, Sri Lanka Guardian, Lanka Way News, Lanka News Web, and Paparasi News.

The petition was filed by Sunil Jayasekara and Udaya Kalupathirana of the media rights group, Free Media Movement (FMM).

The three-member panel at the Supreme Court consisted of CJ Shirani Bandaranayake, Nimal Gamini Amaratunga and R.K.S. Sureshchandra.

See also:

Court case against Sri Lanka’s ban on websites (06.12.11)

Supreme court sanctions Media Ministry's authoritarianism (03.12.11)

A group of around 80 Tamil detainees have launched a hunger strike in Welikada Prison in Colombo.

The group started the hunger strike on Thursday morning, demanding immediate court hearings or release.

The hunger strikers have been detained without trial for several years, with some having been in custody for over 5 years.

The secretary of the Jaffna University Student Union has been attacked hours before he was due to address a Mullivaikkal remembrance event in Jaffna, reports Lankasri News.

Students at Jaffna university staged large scale protest outside the university grounds condemning the attack of the secretary of student union, Paramalingam Tharsananth.

See reports here, here and here.

Demanding that the university officials act to safeguard the rights of students, the protesters burnt an effigy of the university's vice chancellor, prompting her to call for discussions.

According to reports, the situation remains tense, after the protest has resulted in a large deployment of Sri Lankan police officers to the area.

In defiance of intimidation and attacks by the military, students at Jaffna University marked the massacre of Mullivaikkal at an event held at the university on 18th May.

See reports here, here, and here.

Hundreds of students gathered to light candles in memory of those who had been killed.

In a joint message, two worldwide diaspora groups, Global Tamil Forum (GTF) & Transnational Government of Tamil Eelam (TGTE), remembered the events of Mullivaikkal and urged the international community to act quickly and decisively.

"History has recorded the abject failure of the international community, including the United Nations, to take any form of sensible action to prevent the mass killings of Tamils in Mullivaaikkaal"

In a statement published on Friday, the leader of the UK Labour Party, Ed Miliband MP remembered the "appalling loss of life", noting that the "terrible events that took place in 2009 resonate to this day".

See here for statement in full. Extracts have been reproduced below:

Amnesty International has called for Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to press visiting Sri Lankan External Affairs Minister GL Peiris to address past and continuing human rights abuses and accountability issues.

British Prime Minister, David Cameron, may warn Mahinda Rajapaksa personally he would consider boycotting the Commonwealth Heads of Government Meeting due to be held in Colombo unless there is faster action on demilitarisation and devolving power, The Times newspaper reported on Friday.

According to the report, 'senior sources' informed The Times, that the UK prime minister may deliver the message personally next month as Rajapaksa attends a lunch marking the Queen's Diamond Jubilee celebrations.