[The Economist]

ARPUTHAM AMMAL, a pensioner with curly silver hair and a wheezing cough, is an abolitionist. Perched in a gloomy warehouse in Chennai, capital of Tamil Nadu, as young men bustle over an exhibition against the death penalty, she explains why. “It is not needed. The ultimate victims of the death sentence are the backward, the minorities and the weak.”

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[IPS]

Far from heeding charges of human rights abuses and stifling dissent, the government has, this week, added blatant disregard for judicial fiat to its list of sins. On Tuesday, the Supreme Court (SC) terminated proceedings in a controversial oil hedging case, saying the government was no longer implementing court orders on the issue. Sources said the court of Chief Justice Sarath N. Silva backed off from taking on the executive after a series of high-profile judgments it passed against President Mahinda Rajapakse’s administration were simply ignored.

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[AHRC]

The Supreme Court of Sri Lanka, in a judgement that is considered controversial this week (December 17) ordered that petrol prices should be reduced to Rs 100/= per litre to be effective from midnight the same day. The prevalent price for petrol with a octane count of 90, was Rs 122/= and petrol with an octane count of 95 was Rs 137/= per litre. The government, on the other hand, has declared that it will not implement the Supreme Court ruling and has even referred to it as contrary to the government’s war effort against the LTTE. Furthermore, according to the reports of a Cabinet meeting, the president has called on the government to oppose the court.

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[ IFJ ]

IFJ continues to hold grave concerns for the safety and well-being of J.S Tisseinayagam, the editor of www.outreachsl.com, who has been detained since being taken into custody by officers of the Terrorist Information Department (TID) on March 7. Tisseinayagam was initially detained under emergency regulations for 30 days. On April 1, the Colombo Magistrates Court granted a TID request to extend the detention order to May 5, after the Supreme Court ruled against an application for bail on March 31.

[Full Story]