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December 5, 2011

An Open Letter from Mrs. Sandya Eknaligoda forwarded by the Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC)

(This letter was also published by the Srilankamirror on November 27, 2011)

Mr. Joao Nataf
Secretary
United Nations Committee against Torture
Geneva

23rd November 2011

Dear Sir,

Response to the statement by Mr. Mohan Peiris to the UN Committee against Torture.

I am the wife of cartoonish and journalist Prageeth Ekneligoda who was disappeared on 24th January 2010. I wish to submit the following facts to the United Nations Committee against Torture (the Committee) regarding the disappearance of my husband Prageeth Ekneligoda, the search conducted afterwards to find him. I write with reference to the oral statement made by Mr. Mohan Peiris, former Attorney General and currently legal advisor to the President of Sri Lanka who represented the Government of Sri Lanka before the Committee, in which he made a specific reference to my husband in the statement to the Committee on 9th November 2011.

My husband Prageeth Ekneligoda went missing on 24th January 2010. Since then as a responsible citizen of Sri Lanka, I asked the authorities to assist in finding Prageeth by taking the following actions:

• Lodging a complaint with the Homagama police station on 25th January 2010.
• By writing to the President of Sri Lanka Mr. Mahinda Rajapaksa on 17th February 2010.
• Lodging a complaint with the National Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka on 2nd February 2010.
• Filing two writ applications a habeas corpus and mandamus in the Court of Appeal on 19th February 2010.
• By writing to parliamentarians and cabinet ministers on 21st April 2010 and 13th December 2010.
• And by writing to the first lady Mrs. Shiranthi Rajapaksa on 28th April 2011.

I have submitted all the information I have regarding the disappearance of my husband to the Court of Appeal of Sri Lanka.
I have not received a response or a solution from any of these places.
As a respondent to the habeas corpus application [CA(writ)01/2010], the attorney General who was at that time Mr. Mohan Peiris has failed to submit the information which he had provided to your Committee, during the objections made by Attorney General's department in the habeas corpus case, while he held the office of Attorney General of Sri Lanka.
I believe that the statement made by Mr. Mohan Peiris to your Committee is an irresponsible and a mala fide act as he had not presented any of this information to me, my children and the Sri Lankan Courts and as he hid those facts from us.
To date no State authority has confirmed the statement made by the former Attorney General regarding my husband living in another country as a refugee. I have inquired about this matter on 17th November 2011, at a press conference and requested the Government to make an inquiry regarding this statement.
The former Attorney General has also stated to the Committee that the campaign I am carrying out to find my husband is fake. I reject this statement and consider it offensive to me and my children who are already traumatized by the disappearance of Prageeth.
I request you to clarify the accuracy of the statement made by Mr. Mohan Peiris to your Committee and if the statement has any truth to assist me and my children to find Prageeth and to let us meet him, and further to pressure the Sri Lankan Government to meet this request made by me to your Committee.
Thanking you,

Yours faithfully,
Sandya Ekneligoda
Prasan136@gmail.com

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About AHRC: The Asian Human Rights Commission is a regional non-governmental organisation that monitors human rights in Asia, documents violations and advocates for justice and institutional reform to ensure the protection and promotion of these rights. The Hong Kong-based group was founded in 1984.

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