A British air stewardess accused of trying to smuggle 46kg of synthetic cannabis worth £1.2million into Sri Lanka has been transferred to a new prison after deadly riots left 30 people dead.
asserted
riots → accuse → people
Charlotte May Lee, 22, has spent nearly 18 months behind bars over the 'drug mule' allegations.
uncertain
Lee → spend → allegations
The 'traumatised' ex-TUI employee has not yet been formally charged and faces a maximum 25-year sentence if convicted.
asserted
employee → charge → sentence
But sources close to Lee have claimed she has been transferred from the notorious Negombo prison, 20 miles north of the capital city Colombo, over fears for her safety after deadly riots earlier this year left 30 people dead.
asserted
riots → claim → people
In July, ten prison officials and 20 inmates were killed after a two-day riot broke out between two gangs at the overcrowded jail.
asserted
riot → kill → jail
Negombo prison was built to house 650 inmates but roughly 2,400 were held behind bars there when the deadly violence broke out.
asserted
violence → build → bars
The Daily Mirror has now cited 'insiders' as saying Lee, from Coulsdon, south London, is 'coping well' after being moved to the nearby Kuliyappitiya prison.
asserted
Lee → cite → prison
The source said: 'Charlotte was traumatised by the riots, a lot of people lost their lives.
asserted
lot → say → lives
Charlotte May Lee, 22, has spent nearly 18 months behind bars over the 'drug mule' allegations
The 'traumatised' ex-TUI employee has not yet been formally charged and faces a maximum 25-year sentence if convicted
Sri Lankan authorities allegedly found 46kg of synthetic cannabis worth £1.2million in Lee's luggage (pictured)
'
uncertain
authorities → spend → luggage
When the riots happened at Negombo, people were worried for her safety but she survived and has been moved.
asserted
she → happen → safety
The source claimed the 22-year-old is learning to speak the local language to help her talk to other inmates after struggling with a 'language barrier' which she found 'very difficult'.
asserted
she → claim → barrier
They added that Lee is 'desperate to get home' but that 'she knows there's nothing she can do'.
asserted
she → add → ?
Sri Lankan authorities allegedly found 46kg worth of synthetic cannabis in the ex-TUI air stewardess's luggage at Colombo airport in May last year and she was arrested.
uncertain
she → find → May
The drugs, with a reported value of £1.2million, were packed in vacuum-sealed bags but Lee claims she had 'no idea' they were there.
uncertain
they → report → idea
The 22-year-old claims the drugs were planted in her luggage without her knowledge during a holiday to Bangkok, in Thailand.
uncertain
drugs → claim → Thailand
Lee previously revealed how she was being made to share a cell with five other women and she had to sleep on a thin mattress on the concrete floor.
asserted
she → reveal → floor
Her lawyer, Sampath Perera, has now said his priority is to 'ensure that our client receives appropriate legal representation'.
asserted
client → say → representation
Legal sources in the country previously told the Daily Mail that, if convicted, Lee faces being sent to Welikada prison in Colombo – Sri Lanka's largest, maximum security jail.
asserted
Lee → tell → Colombo
This newspaper revealed last year how the Welikada prison, where Lee was previously held, has a miserable history and has been described as a 'hell' for female prisoners in particular.
asserted
Lee → reveal → prisoners
Maggots were reportedly found around food and rats seen scuttling around extremely overcrowded cells.
uncertain
rats → find → cells
Speaking a year ahead of the deadly riots that took place in 2012, an anonymous female prisoner said: 'We are treated as far less than human.
'
asserted
We → speak → 2012
About 150 of us sleep in a cell designed for 75 people.
asserted
150 → sleep → people
An open drain infested with rats runs the perimeter of the room.
asserted
drain → infest → room
'Recently, one of the inmates was bitten and had to be rushed to the hospital for an anti-rabies shot.
asserted
one → bite → shot
Likening the prison to 'hell', another woman told Al Jazeera back in 2011: 'There are 650 of us in the female ward though it was built for 150 people.
asserted
it → liken → people
The 22-year-old claims the drugs were planted in her luggage without her knowledge
She is 'desperate to get home' but that 'she knows there's nothing she can do', a source said
Legal sources in the country previously told the Daily Mail that, if convicted, Lee faces being sent to Welikada prison in Colombo – Sri Lanka's largest, maximum security jail
'
uncertain
Lee → claim → Colombo
We eat, bathe, sleep, wake up and begin all over again.
asserted
We → eat → ?
Women here just waste away.'
asserted
Women → waste → ?
A year later the prison, previously known for its 1983 massacre which saw 55 Tamil prisoners killed by Sinhalese inmates, was back in the headlines.
asserted
prisoners → know → headlines
Prison riots that broke out in November 2012 left 27 inmates dead and more than 40 injured in what was quickly called a 'massacre'.
asserted
what → break → inmates
In 2019 former Prisons Commissioner Emil Lamahewage was convicted over the killings and in 2022 was handed the death penalty for the incident, which the courts said saw eight people called forward by name and shot dead.
asserted
people → convict → name
In 2018, female protestors took to the roof of the prison demanding to be released on bail calling out the delays in their court cases.
asserted
protestors → take → cases
And in November 2020, as the Covid pandemic shut down large parts of the world, another riot broke out in the prison.
asserted
riot → shut → prison
Inmates had launched a protest over the surge in coronavirus infections in the prisons and started demanding to be released on bail early or to be given better facilities.
asserted
Inmates → launch → facilities
Eight people were said to have died with 52 people injured that day after inmates clashed with guards, with police officers saying that they 'used force to control an unruly situation'
asserted
they → say → situation
Sri Lanka is facing a crisis with overcrowding in its prisons across the country – with the country's prison department claiming there are 'too many jailbirds, not enough jail guards'.
asserted
department → face → country
Last year the country's Parliament was told that prisons across the country were more than 20,000 beyond its capacity.
asserted
prisons → tell → capacity
Meanwhile, prisons were short of nearly 850 female and male prison guards, according to local newspaper Sunday Times.
uncertain
prisons → accord → Times
The overcrowded nature of the country's prisons raises the question of whether this will affect the judge's sentencing decision, if Miss Lee were found guilty of drug smuggling charges.
asserted
Lee → raise → charges
Lee, who was training to become an eyelash technician, attended Negombo Magistrates Court last year accused of two charges: one of possessing illegal drugs and another of importing illegal drugs into Sri Lanka.
asserted
who → train → Lanka
…and 42 more, not listed.
The Aporia
