Colombo: Minister of State for Sri Lanka for Prison Management Lohan Ratwatte submit his resignation on Wednesday, a few days after he allegedly threatened to kill Tamil prisoners during his visit to Anuradhapura’s prison in the northern central area of the country, a senior official said.
Ratwatte’s resignation came when pressure was installed on him after Tamil political parties seek his resignation and arrest the incident.
Resignation was received by President Sri Lanka Gotabaya Rajapaksa, Kingsley Ratnayake, said Presidential Spokesman.
Ratwatte allegedly went to Anuradhapura prison on September 12 and forced two prisoners to kneel and threaten to kill them.
His actions pushed the Tamilese parties to condemn his behavior and called for his resignation.
“We called the government to immediately remove the Minister of State in prison and made him arrested and sued after a direct question for allegedly threatening to kill detainees at Anuradhapura on Sunday,” said the National Alliance of Tamil (TNA) in A tweet.
Galen Ponnambalam, the leader of the Front Front of the people of Tamil Tweeted also confirmed the incident.
“TNPF can confirm that on September night, 12 State ministers for prison had gone to Anuradhapura prison, called Tamil’s political prisoners and got two of them knelt in front of him,” he said in a tweet.
Ponnambalam said the minister had threatened to kill Tamil prisoners.
Local media reports alleged that the minister had visited the main prison in Colombo to show a gallows to a group of his friends late at night before heading to the northern city of Anuradhapura.
He allegedly brought his personal weapon to the prison said in prison officials was illegal.
The relevant minister’s office has denied such an incident involving the minister, said local media reports.
Incidents and ministerial actions were also condemned by the United Nations.
The UN resident coordinator in Sri Lanka, Hanaa Singer-Hamdy said that it was the duty of the state to protect the rights of detention, the Gazette Colombo report reported.
“In our work on prison reform and drug rehabilitation, the UN Sri Lanka works to strengthen the capacity to uphold all the rights detained and condemn every treatment of detainees,” Hanaa Singer-Hamdy tweeted on Wednesday.
Prison Minister Sri Lanka resigned after threatening to kill Tamil prisoners
