Sri Lanka: Sri Lanka releases 1800 former Tamil Tiger rebels
Sri Lanka’s government on Friday released nearly 1,800 former Tamil Tiger rebels who had been held since the island nation’s civil war ended more than two years ago.
The former combatants — among about 11,000 Tamil Tigers who surrendered at the end of the war in May 2009 — were held in military-run rehabilitation centers, where they underwent vocational training. The military says about 1,000 remain in centers.
Sri Lanka has come under pressure from rights groups and other countries to either charge the detainees or release them.
President Mahinda Rajapaksa handed over the former rebels to their families at a ceremony at an auditorium in his office complex.