Tamil prisoners temporarily call off prison hunger strike

Over 100 Tamil political prisoners languishing in Sri Lankan jails have suspended their hunger strike until December 15 following new assurances from the government that all of them will be released, the main Tamil party announced today.

The prisoners have come to this decision following a discussion with high level government officials yesterday, the Tamil National Alliance (TNA) said. TNA sources said the government had proposed to subject the Tamil detainees to rehabilitation for their release later. The government had rehabilitated more than 8,000 LTTE cadres arrested or surrendered at the final battle which ended in May 2009.

The Tamil detainees who were on a hunger strike in October had suspended action following an assurance from President Maithripala Sirisena to intervene by November 7. The fasting prisoners claimed they had been held without a charge for decades in some cases wanted an amnesty. The government however acceded to grant bail through the court procedure. At least 39 out of over 160 of them were granted bail last week. But they were unhappy about the tough bail conditions imposed.