Rajapaksa son says Tamil prisoners may be let free

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sanctions were designed to reduce Iranian exports to zero barrels, but has since has softened its position. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Friday announced exemptions for eight countries, without naming them.

Turkey indicated that it was one of them and analysts believe that India, one of the world's largest importers, is also on the list. “India said to the US that they can't stop before March, they are facing a major currency crisis,” explained Joel Hancock, analyst at Natixis.

Consumer confidence in the US itself could also suffer if rising oil prices translate into higher prices at the pump. Colombo, 4: Prime Minister Mahinda Rajapaksa's legislator son Namal on Sunday indicated that the long held demand of the Tamil minority community to release all Tamil prisoners may be fulfilled soon, a move aimed at persuading the Tamil legislators to support Rajapaksa.

“President ( Maithripala) Sirisena and Prime Minister Rajapaksa would make a decision ( on the issue) very soon,” Namal tweeted in Tamil language.

The Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam ( LTTE) had run a military campaign for a separate Tamil homeland in the northern Nov. ■ and eastern provinces of the island nation for nearly 30 years before its collapse in 2009 after the Sri Lankan Army killed its supreme leader Velupillai Prabhakaran.

Rajapaksa, who was the president at the time, has repeatedly said that the war was against the LTTE and not against the Tamil community.

Since the war with the LTTE ended in 2009, the Sri Lankan government has denied that the imprisoned LTTE members are political prisoners. Tamils say some of the prisoners have been held over a long time under anti- terrorism law without even being formally charged.

Namal's comments are aimed at persuading the legislators in the Sri Lanka's main Tamil party - Tamil National Alliance ( TNA) - to switch their allegiance to Rajapaksa in his bid to prove majority in the parliament.