Human Rights Watch urges Sri Lanka for justice to killed ACF aid workers

New York based Human Rights Watch (HRW) has called on the Sri Lankan Government to mete out justice in the killing of 17 aid workers of French charity, Action Against Hunger (ACF).

Issuing a statement on Sunday, the organization said the Sri Lankan authorities have not brought to justice those responsible for the execution-style slaying of 17 aid workers a decade ago, reports the Colombo Page.

The killings of the ACF workers - 16 ethnic Tamils, including four women, and one Muslim - occurred after several days of fighting between government forces and the separatist Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) for control of Muttur.

The ACF team was providing assistance to the survivors of the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The special court being set up by the government should ensure that the ACF killings and other wartime atrocities are fully and fairly tried with significant foreign involvement, and all those culpable brought to account, regardless of rank or position, said Human Rights Watch.

According to the HRW, the non-governmental University Teachers for Human Rights (Jaffna) published detailed findings on the Muttur killings based on accounts from witnesses and weapons analysis that implicate government security forces present in the area.

The group alleges that two police constables and Sri Lankan naval Special Forces commandos were directly responsible, and that senior police and justice officials were linked to a cover-up.