10/06/2011
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www.humanrights.asia
The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) is making an exceptional Urgent Appeal after observing the increased numbers of systematic extrajudicial killings of beggars in Sri Lankan cities over the past few months. According to information that the AHRC has received, a beggar was clubbed to death by unidentified assailants with a sharp weapon during the early hours of 4 October 2011 at Kelaniya in Gampaha District. This is the eighth beggar who is reported to have been killed in the past 3 months. In the name of modernization and the beautification of the cities, around a dozen beggars were similarly killed in the city of Colombo in 2010. Investigation or prosecution of the assailants were denied in all of these cases. Therefore, justice was denied. The case is yet another in a very long list of extrajudicial killings by the Sri Lankan police.