Tamil MPs call for release of political prisoners detained under PTA

Fifteen Tamil Parliamentarians representing Tamil National Alliance (TNA) and Tamil National Peoples' Front (TNPF) signed a petition calling for the release of Tamil political prisoners detained under Prevention of Terrorisom Act (PTA) for years.

Parliamentarians including TNA leader R.Sampanthan and leader of TNPF Gajendrakumar Ponnambalam signed the petition which was handed over to Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa yesterday at Parliament and sent to President Gotabaya Rajapaksa. 

The petition noted that more than 80 Tamil political prisoners are currently in detention under three categories: those who were sentenced by court of law;those who are facing judicial trial for more than 10 to 15 years and those who are being detained without any judicial trial. 

The move to call for release of detainees came with the government taking steps to release prisoners due to COVID-19 health threats inside the prisons as thousands of prisoners contracted the virus over the last weeks.