Amnesty International urged the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka (HRCSL) to call on Sri Lanka to act in accordance with its international human rights obligations and immediately release detained poet, Ahnaf Jazeem, who has been in detention for over 400 days. 

^{Batticaloa Airport, January 2018}

Batticaloa Airport will now be developed as a complete domestic airport and will receive new and modern amenities, stated Tourism Minister Prasanna Ranatunga, after conducting an inspection tour of the airport on 1 July. 

The secretary of the Vavuniya Families of the Disappeared association, Gopalakrishnan Rajkumar, called on the European Union to "repeal the GSP+" trading preference and work with the US to achieve a just "political solution". 

^{Photograph: Army.lk}

The Sri Lankan army is set to officially declare the country free from mines and explosives by 2022. Although twelve years have passed since the end of the armed conflict in the North-East, intense search operations and raids have continued to be carried out in Tamil communities. 

Tamil National Alliance (TNA) MP, Charles Nirmalanathan has urged the Sri Lanka president Gotabaya Rajapaksa to take immediate action to release all remaining political prisoners held under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), after 16 Tamil political prisoners received presidential pardons at the end of June. 

During a press conference at his Mannar office last week, Nirmalanathan spoke on behalf of prisoners "who appealed to the High Court, who are awaiting trial, and those detained without charges.” 

As Sri Lanka continues to grapple with a financial crisis, Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa has issued a special gazette to restrict the flow of foreign currency out of the country.

The gazette has suspended remittances from Sri Lankan assets and funds granted to emigrants under the Migration Allowance. It also limits the repatriation of emigrant funds to a maximum of US $ 10,000 or its equivalent, while the general immigration allowance for migrants is limited to a maximum of US $ 30,000 or the equivalent at the relevant time.

Professor Lukman Thalib can still vividly remember that day his home was raided. As the head of the Department of Public Health at Qatar University and a member of the country’s Scientific Committee against Covid-19, the highly respected Australian public health professor was chairing a meeting on Zoom, when he heard his wife screaming downstairs.

“I came down and there were 4 to 5 people in plain clothes inside my house,” he says. “It was as though they took over my house… We were terrified.”

A Christian pastor and his family were repeatedly assaulted by Eelam People’s Democratic Party (EPDP) members in the Poonthottam area of Vavuniya.

During the attack on Wednesday evening, nine members who identified themselves as EPDP members and supporters of parliamentarian Dileepan reportedly assaulted pastor, Thanabalasingam Jeyaroopan, and his wife in front of the police.

^{Minneriya National Park} 

Major General Mohan Ratnayake of the Sri Lankan Army was arrested on 1 July after surrendering to the Habanara Police as he allegedly assaulted a Wildlife Officer at the Minneriya National Park, after feeling "insulted" by their search requests. 

Following the passage of an EU resolution, which raised alarm over government and military officials spreading hate towards Tamils and Muslims, Hudson Samarasinghe has been reappointed to chair the Sri Lankan Broadcasting Channel.

Samarasinghe is well known for using the airwaves to broadcast hate speech and in the past had censored reporting from the British Broadcasting Channel (BBC).

Journalism under attack