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 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.

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".

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.

Increasing Sinhalisation feared in the North-East, as attacks on Hindu temples escalate. The past few weeks has seen a string of attacks targeting Hindu priests, Hindu sacred shrines and the forceful demolition of Hindu temples.

On 15th May a Sivalingam statue a sacred shrine was reported as missing in Polanaruwa.

PhotographsTamilwin

Two days before, in Punanai, a village near Batticoloa, a Pillaiyar statue was reported missing.

When Prof. G. L Pieris, Sri Lanka’s External Affairs Minister, meets Mrs. Clinton, US Secretary of State tomorrow, he will have in his hand a piece of paper. The ‘Action Plan’ he will present was hastily put together in an attempt to deflect growing international criticism of Sri Lanka’s treatment of the Tamil people.

However, the title of the document is misleading. The ‘Action Plan’ is not actually a blue print for forthcoming action. Instead, and as Sri Lanka’s past record of promised ‘action’ on the Tamil question indicates, all the ‘action’ in the ‘Action Plan’ will be done with its presentation. In other words Sri Lanka’s ‘Action Plan’ to resolve the Tamil issue is simply to present the ‘Action Plan’ and then carry on much the same as before.

The Sri Lankan envoy to Australia Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe has told Australian newspaper The Age that Tamil refugees deemed a security threat by Australian officials are needed back home.

Dozens of Tamil refugees have been given adverse assessments by the Australian Security and intelligence Organisation (ASIO), which makes it impossible for them to settle in Australia. The refugees are unable to appeal the assessment by the ASIO and are stuck in a legal limbo.

Admiral Samarasinghe told The Age that the refugees are welcome in Sri Lanka.

''Help is required in Sri Lanka now. Those who have got a negative assessment, please come back to Sri Lanka. Even if you have been sent out from the place, you will be treated justifiably and fairly and you will be permitted to meet up with your families. Of course, law of the land will prevail.''