HUMAN rights campaigners called today for the suspension of a Sri Lankan counter-terrorism unit whose members,  some of whom serve in UN peacekeeping missions, are accused of torture and sexual violence.

A report by the International Truth and Justice Project (ITJP), which focused on the Terrorism Investigation Division (TID) of the Sri Lankan police, identified 58 alleged torturers at sites in Colombo and Boossa.

It claimed that successive Sri Lankan governments have promoted officers despite knowing the allegations of torture against them. Many of those identified held senior positions, with at least one operating as a UN peacekeeper.

The report, seen by the Star, details shocking allegations of detainee torture and sexual assault carried out by members of the TID.

Prisoners describe being chained together and bussed to TID sites or abducted in white vans, stripped naked, subjected to anal examinations, interrogated in rooms equipped for torture with blood-stained walls and forced to confess to things they hadn’t done.

The 73 victims interviewed also described being beaten, kicked, punched, whipped, suspended in stress positions, asphyxiated with plastic bags soaked in petrol and chilli, subjected to water torture, burned with cigarettes, branded with hot metal rods and subjected to rape and other forms of sexual violence.

Many were held in detention centres for years. A number attempted suicide after their release. They were all warned not to tell inspectors about the torture.

ITJP’s executive director Yasmin Sooka said: “Torture is so endemic in the Terrorism Investigation Division that it is impossible for anyone working in this unit not to have been complicit.

“Until the alleged perpetrators are prosecuted, members of the TID should be barred from international training programmes, UN peacekeeping and other forms of international assistance.

“Training programmes alone will not address the rot in this unit of the security forces.”