United Nations orders reparations for Canadian imprisoned in Sri Lanka

The United Nations Human Rights Committee has ordered the Sri Lankan government to make reparations for the allegeddetention and torture of a Canadian man over the course of three years.

The committee says Sri Lanka must prosecute and punish thoseresponsible for imprisoning Roy Samathanam while he was in the country for a visit in 2007 until his release in 2010.

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Samathanam was allegedly tortured and forced to sign a confession to being part of the rebel group Liberation Tigers of Tamil Ealam before he was released, the committee said in its decision, which was issued last week.

The 46-year-old Samathanam welcomed the committee's finding in astatement issued on Monday.

'A measure of justice'

"Although I can never get back the three years of my life that Ilost, I finally have a measure of justice," he said.

Sri Lanka was engaged in a multi-year civil war that ended in May 2009 with the defeat of the rebel Tamil Tigers.

The rebels had been fighting for an independent state for theethnic Tamil minority complaining of systematic marginalization by successive governments controlled by the majority Sinhalese.

Samathanam filed a complaint to the UN Human Rights Committeethree years ago in an attempt to address what he described as multiple violations of his rights in the country.

The UN committee is a body of independent experts that monitorthe implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights by its state parties. It concluded Sri Lanka violated several sections of the covenant.

Under the terms of the covenant, Sri Lanka must provideSamathanam "an effective remedy" that includes "adequate
compensation," a thorough investigation and to "prosecute, try and punish those responsible for the (Samathanam's) arbitrary arrest,ill-treatment, and inhuman detention, and make the results of suchmeasures public," the committee said.

Man arrived in Canada as refugee

Samathanam, who is of Tamil descent, now lives in Toronto with his wife and child. He came to Canada in 1990 as a refugee.

In 2005, Samathanam travelled to Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, to marry the woman who became his wife. During a lull in Sir Lanka's civil war, Samathanam's wife became pregnant and they decided to remain in the country until she gave birth.

During that time, according to the committee's decision,Samathanam helped a friend with the importation of 600 mobile phones into Sri Lanka. Officers with the country's Terrorist Investigation Division then raided his house and arrested him. They alleged there was a GPS device in the boxes, which was illegal, according thecommittee's decision.

While in custody Samathanam alleged he watched guards beat andtorture other prisoners.

Later, he alleged he was beaten and tortured while behind barsand said officers threatened to beat and rape his wife and kill his child if he didn't confess to being part of the rebel group's intelligence arm.

Terrorism laws used to violate Tamils' rights, man argues

In August 2008, after more than an hour of interrogation,Samathanam hand-wrote a statement in Tamil that he had imported an illegal GPS device for the rebel group, the committee's decision said.

Samathanam was finally released from prison in 2010.

"My arrest was not ordered by any judge but instead by the SriLankan Ministry of Defence," Samathanam said. "The same unjust law that was used in my case the Prevention of Terrorism Act isstill in force and being used to detain Tamils in violation of their rights."

In 2013, the Canadian Centre for International Justice helpedSamathanam file his complaint with the UN's Human Rights Committee. The centre said it was "thrilled" with the committee's conclusions.

"While we monitor the progress of the Sri Lankan government inthis case, we will continue to review other avenues for
accountability," said the centre's legal director Matt Eisenbrandt in a statement. "All the individuals responsible, including the hands-on torturers and their commanders, must be brought to justice."

The centre noted that the UN committee has given Sri Lanka 180days to report back about the measures taken to comply with its decision.

The Sri Lanka High Commission in Ottawa did not immediatelyrespond to a request for comment.