More ex-Tigers join hunger strike

18 May 2012 05:48 pm

Another 100 ex-Tigers in remand prison today joined the hunger strike launched by 80 of their colleagues on Thursday demanding that the authorities either expedite their court cases which according to them had been dragging on for years or in the alternative to release them.

Prison authorities said 50 ex-Tigers at the Vavuniya remand prison, 20 at Kalutara another 30 who were at the Colombo Remand Prison (CRP) have joined the hunger strike.

But the Prisons Department charged that the former combatants launched the hunger strike hoping they would get a pardon on the third anniversary of the war victory.

“Even the top officials visited them and promised that their cases will be taken up at the earliest available date, but they are continuing with the hunger strike,” a senior prison officer said. (Supun Dias)