Tamil POW goes on dry hunger-strike amidst suffering asthma attack

31-year-old Tamil Prisoner of War, Sivaseelan Sivapragasam, who has been waging a hunger strike at Anuradhapura prison Saturday, refused to drink water starting from Tuesday. On Wednesday morning he was subjected to medical inspection at the prison hospital. Later in the noon, he was rushed to Anuradhapura hospital in a stretcher after suffering an asthma attack, fellow Tamil prisoners said. Sivaseelan was caught in trauma after his father, the only family member to be alive outside the prison, recently passed away, according to his fellow Tamil prisoners who talked to reporters at Vavuniyaa when they came for a hearing in the afternoon.

Earlier, the SL Attorney General's Department had given a verbal assurance to Mr Sivaseelan, who had been languishing in the prison since his detention in May 2009 that he would be released.

However, the SL AG wanted to continue with legal suits and started to drag its feet, the TPPs said.

Sivaseelan was demanding his release before the 31st-day ritual ('Anthiraddi' rites).

He was 22 years when the SL military detained him on 19 May 2009 at Oamanthai in Vavuniyaa.

He had lost his mother and a brother during the genocidal onslaught by the advancing SL military which directed indiscriminate artillery fire into the so-called ‘safe zone’.

Sivaseelan continuous to refuse drinking water and his health condition has worsened due to his psychological condition, the Tamil Prisoners of War, who not recognised as POWs or political prisoners by the suppressive legal system of the unitary state of genocidal Sri Lanka.