A British MP will this week confront Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa over a suspected cover-up in the murder of a British holidaymaker and the gang-rape of his girlfriend.
Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross aid worker from Rochdale, had been in Sri Lanka to rest after an assignment in Gaza, when he and his Russian girlfriend were attacked by eight men in a hotel bar in Tangalle, on the south coast. One of the men accused of the attack is a prominent figure in Mr Rajapaksa's Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP).
Mr Shaikh was stabbed in the throat and shot dead after he complained about the men sexually harassing his girlfriend as they enjoyed a drink in the early hours of Christmas Day 2011. His girlfriend was beaten unconscious and gang-raped, according to Sri Lankan police.
But despite assurances from Mr Rajapaksa, suspicions of a politically-motivated cover-up to protect a key supporter have grown, amid threats against witnesses and misleading statements by government figures.
The government's chief whip Dinesh Gunawardena recently denied that the victim's girlfriend, Victoria Tkacheva, had been raped – despite clear forensic evidence. Full story...
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Khuram Shaikh, a 32-year-old Red Cross aid worker from Rochdale, had been in Sri Lanka to rest after an assignment in Gaza, when he and his Russian girlfriend were attacked by eight men in a hotel bar in Tangalle, on the south coast. One of the men accused of the attack is a prominent figure in Mr Rajapaksa's Sri Lankan Freedom Party (SLFP).
Mr Shaikh was stabbed in the throat and shot dead after he complained about the men sexually harassing his girlfriend as they enjoyed a drink in the early hours of Christmas Day 2011. His girlfriend was beaten unconscious and gang-raped, according to Sri Lankan police.
But despite assurances from Mr Rajapaksa, suspicions of a politically-motivated cover-up to protect a key supporter have grown, amid threats against witnesses and misleading statements by government figures.
The government's chief whip Dinesh Gunawardena recently denied that the victim's girlfriend, Victoria Tkacheva, had been raped – despite clear forensic evidence. Full story...
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