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Ref: UA/8/2004                                                          Date : 03-11-2004

"TO WHOMSOEVER IT MAY CONCERN"

Iraq Hostage - International appeal for the release of Sri Lankan Tamil Dinesh Dharmendra Rajaratnam

"WE the undersigned well wishers of Dinesh Dharmendra Rajaratnam and his family earnestly appeal for his release with immediate effect said to have been taken hostage by the Iraq Islamic Army.

Mr. Rajaratnam is a Kuwaiti-based transport company driver and he was abducted along with a second drive, Abul Kashem Faruk from Feni, a Bangladeshi national on 28 October 2004, near a U.S. military base in Iraq.

Mr. Rajaratnam aged 37 is a Sri Lankan Tamil, is a father of three children 10, 12 and 14, had gone to Kuwait last year in the hope of earning enough to provide a better education for his children.

"He only went for a job. Nothing else. He poses no threat to anyone," his wife Doreen Rita Rajaratnam who lives in her small wooden home just outside the capital, Colombo. "I am begging them to release him. His children and I need him. We can't live without him."

"The children are getting bigger and he wanted to be able to give them a good education," Doreen said.

Rajaratnam's father, 64 year aged old man Karuppiah Rajaratnam, appealed in trembling voice and in tears: "I appeal to the people who have taken my son, to please free him back to us and not to harm him."

"He is my only son. All our hopes and expectations are pinned on him," the old man said in.

According to his family Mr. Rajaratnam was not happy with his work as a truck driver in Kuwait and wanted to come back to Sri Lanka. The family said they had paid Rs.68,000 to secure the driver's job in Kuwait.

His wife told that "He wanted us to send a fax message to his employer saying that there was a very pressing need for him to return home immediately." His brother-in-law Pullaiya Suresh told that "he was not paid the salary that was promised therefore he wanted to return back to Sri Lanka."

WE the undersigned well wishers of Mr. Rajaratnam and his family appeal the hostage takers to release Rajaratnam, the innocent Sri Lankan Tamil truck driver and also Abul Kashem Faruk from Feni, Bangladesh without any harm immediately. "

FOLLOW-UP :

Dinesh Rajaratnam freed on 10-12-2004 [World Human Rights Day]

Sri Lankan truck driver Dinesh Rajaratnam taken hostage in Iraq last October has been released along with his Bangladeshi colleague Abul Kashem, the Foreign Ministry confirmed yesterday.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Himali Arunatilleke said Rajaratnam is now with the Sri Lankan representative in Lebanon. However, she declined to disclose whether Dinesh is still in Iraq or Lebanon, citing security reasons.

It has been conveyed that the two truck drivers abducted by Iraqi militants known by the name Al-Sural-Sunnah (Islamic Army) on October 28, were unhurt at the time of their release.

"We have informed the family of his release," she said adding that arrangements will be made to bring him home shortly.

Rajaratnam's wife and the 14-year-old eldest son made a video appeal to the militants last week. It was televised via Al-Arabia satellite TV network.

Since his abduction, the Foreign Ministry on behalf of his family made efforts through various channels to secure Rajaratnam's release after Al-jazeera televised his abduction.

Religious leaders and various islamic organisations were contacted by Sri Lanka to obtain news of the victim and get him freed including governments who underwent similar experiences like India.

Deputy Foreign Minister Prof. Viswa Warnapala made a special plea earlier on behalf of the family and it was televised through Al-Jazeera in Iraq.

Rajaratnam and his Bangladeshi colleague, working for a Kuwaiti transport company, Jassim Transport was abducted as they were driving to a US military base in Iraq. Formerly working in Kuwait for the same company, they had been sent to Iraq by the employer.

"Our embassy in Kuwait informs us that both men are free and unhurt and are under the protection of the Iraqi government while arrangements are made to allow them to return home," Bangladeshi State Minister for Overseas Employment Mohammad Quamrul Islam told the AFP news agency.

"We are delighted at the news and have sent a passport for the Bangladeshi. His family has been informed of his release," he said.

Kashem, 42, is from the southeastern Feni district of Bangladesh.

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