Sources currently available to the DIRB do not refer specifically to the physical treatment of Jaffna Tamils detained in Colombo. However, they do provide the following general information on the physical treatment of detainees in Sri Lanka, including those held in Colombo.

Referring to torture in Sri Lanka, Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993 states:
[t]orture and mistreatment of detainees, particularly during interrogation, was common during 1993. Reports of torture included near drowning, placing of insecticide or gasoline-filled bags over the head, and beating the soles of detainees' feet with metal rods. Suspected criminals as well as those detained under the E[mergency] R[egulations] are routinely beaten during the initial phase of their detention. Severe beatings, sometimes resulting in broken bones or other serious injuries, were reported by many detainees (1994, 1388-89).

Reporting on torture and ill-treatment of political detainees by Sri Lankan security forces in both the southern and northeastern parts of Sri Lanka, Amnesty International Report 1993 states that the methods of torture include,
electric shocks; pouring petrol into prisoners' nostrils and then placing a plastic bag over their heads; suspending prisoners by their thumbs and beating them; beating with barbed wire; repeatedly submerging prisoners' heads in water while they were suspended by their ankles; and rape of women (1993, 267).

A 1994 Amnesty International report states that torture and ill-treatment of political and criminal prisoners, which continued in 1993 in Sri Lanka, included "severe beatings" (Feb. 1994, 4). A 1992 DIRB publication entitled Sri Lanka: Internal Flight Alternatives refers to the beatings of Tamil detainees in Colombo as "routine matters" (Dec. 1992, 14).

This response was prepared after researching publicly accessible information currently available to the DIRB within time constraints. This response is not, and does not purport to be, conclusive as to the merit of any particular claim to refugee status or asylum.

References

Amnesty International. 1993. Amnesty International Report 1993. New York: Amnesty International USA.

. February 1994. "Sri Lanka: Summary of Concerns." (AI Index: ASA 37/09/94). London: Amnesty International Publications.

Country Reports on Human Rights Practices for 1993. 1994. United State Department of State. Washington, DC: United States Government Printing Office.

Documentation, Information and Research Branch (DIRB), Immigration and Refugee Board, Ottawa. December 1992. Sri Lanka: Internal Flight Alternatives.

Attachment

Amnesty International. February 1994. "Sri Lanka: Summary of Concerns." (AI Index: ASA 37/09/94). London: Amnesty International Publications.

Sources Consulted

Amnesty International country file (Sri Lanka).

Asiaweek [Hong Kong]. 1992-94.

Bar Association of Sri Lanka [Colombo].

DIRB country file (Sri Lanka).

Far Eastern Economic Review [Hong Kong]. 1992-94.

Human Rights Watch World Report 1994. December 1993.

Human Rights Watch World Report 1993. December 1992.

Keesing's Record of World Events [Cambridge]. 1993-94.

News from Asia Watch. 1991-93.

On-line search.

Sri Lanka Information Monitor. INFORM [Colombo].

The Sri Lanka Monitor [London]. 1990-94.