Oz-origin activist claims Sri Lankan govt agents 'kidnapped, sexually tortured' him

Sydney, Apr 12 (ANI): An Australian man, who was allegedly abducted in Sri Lanka last weekend, has claimed that the Colombo government abducted him, and sexually tortured him during his three-day detention.

Premakumar Gunaratnam, a 42-year-old Sri Lankan left wing politician, held a press conference in Sydney after returning from Sri Lanka yesterday.

Gunaratnam, a former member of the Marxist People's Liberation Front, a leading opposition political party in Sri Lanka, claimed that he was handcuffed, blindfolded and physically and sexually tortured by the government's agents.

"I have no doubt that if I didn't have the Australian government's support I would have been killed just like my brother and hundreds of other political activists and journalists have been killed," The Sydney Morning Herald quoted Gunaratnam, as saying.

"I can confirm I was abducted by the Sri Lankan government forces, blindfolded and tortured. This includes, I am embarrassed to say, sexual torture," he added.

Gunaratnam claims contradicted the statement given by the Sri Lankan high commissioner in Canberra, Admiral Thisara Samarasinghe, who said 'the Sri Lankan authorities never arrested that person.'

Gunaratnam called on the international community to acknowledge what he says are 'ongoing human rights violations' in Sri Lanka being committed by the government of President Mahinda Rajapaksa.

"If everyone ignores the human rights violations in Sri Lanka, then the Rajapaksa regime will continue the dictatorial regime, abducting and killing people who speak out," the paper quoted him, as saying. (ANI)

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