Top Asian News 2:44 a.m. GMT

Group seeks ex-Sri Lankan president's arrest in Singapore

COLOMBO, Sri Lanka (AP) — A human rights group said Sunday it had filed a criminal complaint with Singapore’s attorney general to seek the arrest of Sri Lanka’s former president for alleged war crimes during his country’s civil war. Gotabaya Rajapaksa was ousted from office over his country's economic collapse and fled to Singapore earlier this month. He was defense secretary during Sri Lanka’s civil war, which ended in 2009. The International Truth and Justice Project — an evidence-gathering organization administered by a South Africa-based nonprofit foundation —said its lawyers filed the complaint requesting Rajapaksa’s immediate arrest. The complaint alleges Rajapaksa committed grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions during the civil war "and that these are crimes subject to domestic prosecution in Singapore under universal jurisdiction.” Sri Lanka's economic crisis has left the nation’s 22 million people struggling with shortages of essentials, including medicine, fuel and food.