The brother of a murdered aid worker will travel to Sri Lanka to accuse local police of failing to bring the killers to justice.
Red Cross worker Khuram Shaikh, 32, from Rochdale, was savagely attacked at beach resort on Christmas Day in 2011.
Despite police making a number of arrests days after the killing, the suspects have been freed and there are no plans for a trial.
The prime suspect in the case is a local politician – and supporters of the family have accused local authorities of trying to shelf the case due to ‘political pressure’.
The victim’s brother Nasir, an NHS manager, will travel to the capital Colombo with Rochdale MP Simon Danczuk.
Victim Khuram, a Salford University graduate, had worked for the international aid charity in Gaza, where he fitted prosthetics to people who had lost limbs. He had been on holiday at the resort of Tangalle, 100 miles south of the capital, when the horror attack happened.
Eight armed men are said to have rampaged through the site, visited mostly by Western tourists, stabbing and shooting Mr Shaik, from Milnrow, in an unprovoked assault. A female Red Cross worker, 23, who was also at the resort, was also severely injured in the attack.
Eight men who were arrested shortly after the death, including Sampath Chandrapushpa Vidanapathirana, 24, a local politician belonging to Sri Lanka’s ruling political party. But the group were released on bail in November and no action has been taken since.
Mr Danczuk, who will jet to the Indian Ocean island this week with the victim’s brother, says he believes ‘political interference’ is behind the lack of progress.
Court officials in Colombo have insisted that the legal process is continuing and criminal charges against the men are pending.
But the Foreign Office has also urged immediate action on the matter and a senior diplomat at the British High Commission wrote he “shared the frustration that the perpetrators of a very brutal murder have yet to be brought to trial”. (ManchesterEveningNews)
