End political revenge, says Rajapakse's son

A son of former Sri Lankan president Mahinda Rajapakse Thursday urged authorities to stop taking "political revenge" against his family and its supporters.

Namal Rajapakse, the eldest son of Rajapakse, was quoted by Xinhua as saying that innocent people continued to be victimized.

"Innocent people are being punished for supporting the SLFP," he said, referring to the Sri Lanka Freedom Party which his father headed until he lost the presidential election in January.

"Political revenge from trade unions and others need to stop."

Rajapakse is a member of the SLFP, which is currently headed by Sri Lanka's new president Maithripala Sirisena.

Soon after his defeat, the former president had urged the new government to stop acts of political revenge being carried out on his family and his supporters.

The government says it was not taking any revenge on the former president but was instead conducting bribery and corruption investigations against leaders of the former government.