Tamil Lankan executed while Mahinda Rajapaksa in UAE
- Post 21 January 2014
- By Athula Vithanage
A Tamil youth was executed by a firing squad in Sharjah while the Sri Lankan President was in the United Arab Emirates.
Ravindra Krishna Pillai, was convicted of murder following an unfair trial, said Amnesty International.
Said Boumedouha, Deputy Director of Amnesty International’s Middle East and North Africa Programme, has told the BBC Sinhala that it is regrettable that the Sri Lankan president did not intervene to save the youngster from death.
President Rajapaksa is on an official visit to the Emirates where the execution was carried out on the 21st of January.
On the day of the execution of Ravindra Krishna Pillai, the Sri Lankan government announced that the king of UAE Sheikh Mohammed bin Rashid Al Maktoum has said that a conducive environment for investing in Sri Lanka has arrived.
The executed Tamil, a domestic helper, has told Amnesty International (AI) while in custody that he accidentally killed a man who tried to sexually assault him.
According to AI he has had no access to his government-appointed lawyer.
"A family friend of his employer tried to sexually assault him, in the family friend's home. He tried to escape by driving away in the man's car, and accidentally ran him over," reported AI.
© JDS
