UN against amnesty for Lanka rebels

The UN rights chief has said Tamil rebels still detained years after the end of Sri Lanka's bloody civil war should not be granted universal amnesty, a top regional official said Sunday.

More than 200 suspected Tamil separatists remain in prison, many without charge, following the country's bitter 37-year-war that ended nearly seven years ago. Tamil political and civil society groups have long demanded their unconditional release, tough the government has rejected demands for universal amnesty.

Speaking on a trip to the island nation, UN rights chief Zeid Ra'ad Al Hussein said jailed Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE) members should clear their names in court, according to the chief minister of Sri Lanka's former war zone, C V Wigneswaran.

"He (Zeid) said it is not the common practice of the international community to give common pardon to such suspects," Wigneswaran told reporters in Jaffna.

Meanwhile, ex-president Mahinda Rajapakse's brother denounced yesterday the UN human rights chief's visit to Sri Lanka as a "big joke", as the former regime stepped up opposition to a UN-backed war-crimes probe.

Former president Rajapakse and his brother, ex-defence secretary Gotabhaya Rajapakse, have signed a petition against the probe into allegations of thousands of civilian deaths during the final months of Sri Lanka's separatist war.