Sri Lanka tests UN's patience on human rights

Memories of the dark cell and constant fear for his life still haunt Murugiah Komahan, who spent six years in prison on anti-terrorism charges in Sri Lanka.

Mr Komahan, 40, is among thousands of Tamils and others detained under the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) in recent decades.

Successive governments dominated by the Sinhalese majority used the PTA primarily to arrest those suspected of links with the separatist Tamil Tigers until the rebels' defeat in 2009.

But more than a decade after the civil war ended, the act is still in use and Sri Lanka is under pressure to reform it.

The island's access to lucrative export markets in Europe depends on it making progress on human rights.

Mr Komahan, who's from northern Jaffna region, was first arrested under the anti-terrorism act in 2010 on charges of links with the rebels.