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Pro-’Aragalaya’ Scottish woman being probed, passport confiscated

  • Accused of defaming SL internationally
  • Aragalaya priest Fr. Jeewantha files FR
  • YouTuber Ratta granted bail
  • IUSF alleges ‘white van’ abduction
  • First man to storm Secretariat remanded

(BY Ruwani Fonseka and Dinitha Rathnayake – The Morning)

The Sri Lanka Police has launched an investigation into a Scottish woman who was residing in Sri Lanka, named Kayleigh Fraser and better known by her social media name Kayz Fraser, for being actively involved in the “aragalaya” movement centred around Galle Face, through which she has allegedly brought disrepute to Sri Lanka and its security forces on the international stage, while the Department of Immigration and Emigration confiscated her passport yesterday (2), The Morning learnt.

According to a post on her Instagram account, officials from the Criminal Investigation Department (CID) and the Department of Immigration and Emigration had arrived at her residence, where they had attempted to intimidate her and later confiscated her passport.

“After receiving a call yesterday from the Immigration Department warning me to leave the country now – today I have immigration officers accost me and intimidate me outside my house demanding my passport, which they have now taken from me. And so it begins. I also heard them say ‘live video’ halfway through my filming – if any native speaker is willing to carefully listen to what they are saying amongst themselves that would be useful… because it seems to me that they were warning each other that i had a live video on the go…,” the Instagram post claimed.

When contacted by The Morning for clarification last night, Police Spokesperson Senior Superintendent of Police and Attorney-at-Law Nihal Thalduwa said that Fraser had been sharing “negative content” on her Instagram account.

“She was sharing negative content on her Instagram account. It is not right for a foreign national to be in our country and share such mass negative content. She is not a media personnel either, to cover the protests and ‘GotaGoGama’,” he said.

The Immigration Department has claimed that she had remained in Sri Lanka by extending her visa, and has provided her seven days to explain the reasons for her extended stay, The Morning learnt.

Meanwhile, “aragalaya” protestor and activist Fr. Amila Jeewantha Peiris, filed a Fundamental Rights (FR) petition in the Supreme Court (SC) seeking an order preventing his imminent arrest, amidst attempts by the Police to arrest him by raiding various churches associated with the latter.

According to sources, the Police have questioned Peiris’s parents, and searched their house. Police had earlier visited a church in the Southern part of the Ratnapura District, claiming they had orders to arrest Peiris.

Senior Deputy Inspector General of Police (SDIG) in charge of the Western Province Deshabandu Tennakoon, the Inspector General of Police, the Army Commander, the Air Force Commander, the Navy Commander, the Attorney General (AG), and others have been named as respondents in the petition submitted through his lawyers. He stated that the respondents are preparing to arrest him without any reasonable cause.

Peiris, who has been involved in the struggle since the beginning of the “GotaGoGama”, and the recent “RanilGoGama”, has further requested in the petition to issue a verdict that his fundamental rights are being violated, and to therefore, issue an order to prevent his arrest.

Meanwhile, social activist and YouTuber Rathindu Senaratne, popularly known as “Ratta”, was granted bail by the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court, after he was arrested on Monday (1). He was arrested when he visited the Colombo Central Crimes Division to provide a voluntary statement over an incident concerning another activist-cum-protestor Pathum Kerner, who was previously arrested. Counsel for Senarathna said that an officer from the Special Unit of the Slave Island Police had visited the Division and arrested Senarathna. Counsel said that he was arrested over a case filed at the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court. Police stated that the Colombo Central Crimes Division had arrested Senarathna on charges of damaging public property during a protest at the Bank of Ceylon (BOC) Mawatha on 21 May.

Activists also alleged that a large Police team had come and forcibly entered the house of Socialist Youth Association National Organiser Eranga Gunasekara on Monday (1). They had come claiming to record a statement, but he was not at home at the time, the activists said.

Calling a press conference on Monday, Inter-University Students Federation (IUSF) Convenor Wasantha Mudalige claimed that a fourth-year student activist of the Kelaniya University’s Faculty of Management was abducted in a white van on Sunday (31 July) at around 3 p.m., threatened, and left on the road three hours later.
Meanwhile, the person who was arrested on suspicion of being the first to forcibly enter the Presidential Secretariat when the protestors took over the premises on 9 July has been remanded until 5 August.

He was produced before the Colombo Fort Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Further, Fort Magistrate Thilina Gamage ordered the suspect to be referred to an identification parade on 5 August. The Fort police arrested the 38-year-old male from Pannipitiya yesterday.

The premises, which had been blocked by protestors for more than 100 days, were overrun and stormed by protestors on 9 July, demanding the resignation of then-President Gotabaya Rajapaksa.

Anthony Veranga Pushpika de Silva, Dhaniz Ali, and other activists have also been arrested and remanded so far. It is also learnt that the Colombo Fort Police Station Officer-In-Charge (OIC) has advised protestors to leave the “RanilGoGama” protest site.