The Frontline Socialist Party legislator was speaking after an inspection tour of New Magazine Prison.

He said that these prisoners were being held for nearly 20 years without any charges being filed, following their arrest on the charge of being members of the LTTE.

Although the president has officially declared that the country was not having political prisoners, the Equal Rights Movement claims hundreds of political prisoners are still being held at prisons.

MP Kumara said that there was not a single LTTE leader or commander among the around 300 persons being detained for allegedly being LTTE members.

Some may have given minor assistance to the outfit, while others have had no connection at all with it, according to him.

He said that these prisoners had been severely harassed under the previous Rajapaksa regime.

The present Maithri-Ranil administration’s promise to form special courts to try these prisoners has become a farce, he said.

Kumara said that political prisoners at New Magazine Prison had placed their grievances before him, adding that he would take steps to get them released, BBC Sandeshaya reports.