A new report by the British-based charity Freedom from Torture shows that torture has continued long after the end of the civil war in May 2009.

The research shows that torture is perpetrated by officials within both the military and the police and that people within the Tamil population who are perceived by the authorities as having links to the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) remain at risk of being detained and tortured.

A number of other bodies such as the Asian Human Rights Commission have documented ongoing torture in Sri Lanka.

“Many of us bear the marks of torture on our minds and bodies, but in Sri Lanka you can’t express that you’ve been tortured. If you show your scars to [an official] you risk them telling the authorities and you would likely be detained again,” the report quotes Saarheerthan, Sri Lankan torture survivor, saying.

Survivors’ well-founded fear of speaking out about torture in Sri Lanka is just one of the reasons that little information on the practice has flowed out of the country since the end of the conflict, including reported enforced disappearances and the intimidation of journalists, civil society organizations and doctors.

Sri Lankan authorities have blocked international bodies from reporting on conditions in the country. President Mahinda Rajapaksa’s government has dismissed all the reports as “preposterous.” The President has embarked on a charm offensive to help repair Sr Lanka’s reputation, most recently at the Commonwealth Heads of Government meeting. And the United Nations Committee Against Torture was told on Tuesday by Sri Lanka that it was taking measures to curb torture by security forces.

Freedom from Torture has used forensic methods to document evidence of torture through the production of medico-legal reports (MLRs) for use in the context of asylum claims by torture survivors who have fled to the UK.

Keith Best, Freedom from Torture’s Chief Executive, said:

“As well as recording serious psychological impact in virtually all of the individuals whose cases are sampled in this report, the evidence also reveals high levels of visible scarring which strongly suggests a deliberate policy of ‘branding’ and an environment where perpetrators act with impunity. The experiences documented in the report of signed confessions forced through torture, fingerprinting and the deliberate infliction of visible injuries, mean that the risk of future detention and torture for survivors on return to Sri Lanka remains high, especially given the fact that in every single one of these 35 cases release from detention was resultant on the payment of a bribe. Fourteen had reported torture on their return from periods of time spent abroad.”

The 35 individuals whose MLRs were reviewed in Freedom from Torture’s study were detained in a range of facilities around Sri Lanka and all report being targeted due to an actual or perceived association with the LTTE, often through family members, or an opposition political party. It has been widely reported that the LTTE forcibly recruited Tamils into membership and other support roles during the civil war, suggesting that a very large proportion of the Tamil population is at risk of being targeted on this basis.

The return of asylum seekers to Sri Lanka has been strongly criticized by NGOs who say that their safety cannot be guaranteed. They have suggested that immigration agencies are taking decisions on the basis of assurances given by Sri Lankan intelligence officers – the very people accused of perpetrating many of the alleged abuses. Nevertheless,  Australia, Britain and Switzerland are amongst countries who have continued with removals.

NGOS have reported repatriated Tamils accused of being opposition supporters being arrested, intimidated and tortured. There are numerous accounts of ‘disappearances’ of those returning to Sri Lanka whether forced or voluntary. The UK has admitted it is not monitoring the safety of Tamils deported to Sri Lanka.

Rohan, Sri Lankan torture survivor, is quoted in the report saying:

“I was taken to a building. They asked questions like ‘why have you come back again?, ‘what did you do in the UK?’, ‘where is your brother?’ [an LTTE member]. I said I had no contact with him. They tortured me inside the room by removing my clothes and hitting me with burning irons. I was feeling a burning sensation all over my body. They kept me for two days and I found my body was all swollen. On the third day they put me inside the van. I thought they were going to shoot me. Later I realised that my family had given them some money and because of that I was released.”

Juliet Cohen of Freedom from Torture, says the effects of torture can last for years.

“People have been through overwhelmingly terrifying experiences, and these in Sri Lanka seem to have employed the full range, pretty much, of torture methods.

British Labour MP Siobhain McDonagh, who has campaigned against removals, told the UK parliament that by going through with a removal flight “we [Britain] might as well paint targets on their backs.”

Janasansadaya is an organization dedicated to eradicating torture and police violence from Sri Lanka. At their branch in the southern city of Galle, they held a meeting on August 27, 2010, to help inform and empower victims, and promote judicial reforms in Sri Lanka.

Video by internationalbridges

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