Sri Lankan president, Gotabaya Rajapaksa, has arrived in Scotland for the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, where he expected to be met by protests.

His arrival comes as Scottish Tamils are in the midst of a widespread publicity campaign calling for the President to be held accountable for numerous war crimes he is responsible for during his tenure as defence secretary.

Mohamed Sulthan, the coordinator of Save the Pearls, has told the Fort Magistrates Court that he was tortured in order to implicate the prominent Muslim human rights lawyer, Hejaaz Hizbullah. 

Sulthan's defence lawyer detailed the names of three Terrorist Investigation Department officers who he alleges undertook the torture. Sulthan was originally arrested under allegations of teaching "extremism" at a Madrasa school and has been detained for 18 months.

Responding to the appointment of former convict and extremist monk, Galagodaaththe Gnanasara, to head the Presidential Task Force on "One country, one law",  the All Ceylon Jamiyyathul Ulama (ACJU) expressed shock and dismay on behalf of the Muslim community in Sri Lanka.

In their statement, Ash Shaikh M. Arkam Nooramith the General Secretary for the ACJU maintained that Gnanasara's appointment "appointment tarnishes the reputation of our country in the international arena" and hampered "peace and harmony initiatives".

On the day 26 years ago, over half a million Tamil men, women and children fled their homes in Jaffna as the Sri Lankan military launched a military offensive to capture the peninsula, under the leadership of then president Chandrika Kumaratunga.

On October 30, 1995, the entire town of Jaffna, the largest Tamil population centre on the island, streamed out in a mass exodus for the safety of the Vanni, which was then controlled by the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE).

Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa departed for Scotland on Saturday, heading a high level delegation to the UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties (COP26) in Glasgow, where protests are planned to greet him.

Rajapaksa was accompanied by Sri Lanka’s environment minister Mahinda Amaraweera and several other senior officials, including Foreign Secretary and fellow accused war criminal, Jayanath Colombage.

As Sri Lankan president Gotabaya Rajapaksa prepares to visit Glasgow tomorrow, a campaign by Scottish Tamil activists went digital this week, protesting against his visit to the country.

Alongside newspaper adverts and projections on landmarks across Scotland, a set of online advertisements were placed in The Herald and other websites this week.

Over 50,000 adverts were reportedly based strategically targeting postcodes in Glasgow, where Rajapaksa is set to speak at a side event on nitrogen use.

Sri Lanka’s war crimes accused president Gotabaya Rajapaksa is set to speak at a side event tomorrow during the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference, COP26, as Tamils from across the UK are gathering in Scotland to protest his appearance.

Canadian politicians from both the Liberal and Conservative parties slammed Instagram and Facebook, which has been rebranded to Meta, last night, after the social media platform removed the Tamil Guardian Instagram account for more than 48 hours this week.

World-leading expert in international rights and humanitarian law Wayne Jordash QC is calling on the International Criminal Court (ICC) and the UK to investigate crimes perpetrated against Sri Lankan Tamils.

Tamil families of the disappeared held a protest outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office this morning in Jaffna as they demand answers regarding the fates and locations of their forcibly disappeared loved ones. 

The families have been holding roadside protests since 2017 under horrible weather conditions calling for justice and accountability. 

"Where are they? Where are our loved ones?" the families chanted.