The final day of a relay hunger strike organised by the Association of Relatives of the Forcibly Disappeared in the North and East was held in Jaffna today, with campaigners demanding international justice for enforced disappearances and mass atrocities committed against Tamils.

Sri Lankan police have revealed that a crime figure murdered earlier this year in Middeniya was in a vehicle that pursued rugby player Wasim Thajudeen shortly before his death in 2012.

Acting Police Media Spokesperson Nihal Thalduwa confirmed that the man, identified as Anura Vidanagamage, also known as “Middeniya Kajja,” was recognised by his widow in connection with the case.

The Sri Lankan government has publicly accused prominent Tamil journalist and human rights defender Kumanan Kanapathipillai of “terrorist activities and financial crime” during a UN session, in what has been described as a deliberate smear campaign to intimidate him.

At the Committee on Enforced Disappearances in Geneva on Friday, a Sri Lankan government representative claimed there was “reliable information” linking Kumanan to “terrorist activities and financial crime,” alleging that he had “provoked protestors against government forces for personal gain.”