Human Rights Watch pushes for PTA repeal, raises alarm over new bill

Sri Lankan authorities continue to use the ‘notorious’ Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) to target perceived opponents and minority communities without credible evidence to support the allegations despite repeated pledges to end the practice, claims Human Rights Watch (HRW). 

Issuing a statement on Wednesday (17), the international watchdog stated that as a result, while some victims have suffered years of arbitrary detention and torture, others are persecuted even after the case against them is dropped.

“The law, widely known as the PTA, has provisions allowing for extended administrative detention, limited judicial oversight, and inadequate protections against torture. In a 2022 speech to the United Nations Human Rights Council, the then foreign minister pledged a moratorium on its use, but under President Ranil Wickremesinghe, detentions under the PTA have continued. Such is the chilling effect of the law that in September 2023 the International Monetary Fund found that “broad application of counter-terrorism rules” restricts civil society scrutiny of official corruption”, the statement highlighted.

Additionally, it also mentioned that following government promises to repeal the PTA since 2015, draft legislation to replace it, known as the Anti-Terrorism Bill (ATB), was published in March 2023. While the new bill contains some improvements, it includes provisions that could facilitate abuse, it added.

Human Rights Watch further stressed that following the 2019 Easter Sunday attacks, when Islamist suicide bombers targeted churches and hotels, killing over 260 people, the authorities detained at least 125 Muslims in the eastern town of Kattankudy under the PTA. “Little or no evidence was produced against most of them, a lawyer familiar with the situation told Human Rights Watch. Most spent between one and three years in detention and were then either discharged altogether or released on bail. Twenty-four are facing trial in a proceeding that is expected to continue for years”, it added.

Meanwhile, the statement also said that like the PTA, the draft law to replace it appears designed to give the president, police, and military broad powers to detain people without evidence, to make vaguely defined forms of speech a criminal offense, and to arbitrarily ban gatherings and organizations without meaningful judicial oversight. 

“It would expand the definition of terrorism to include crimes such as property damage, and restrict rights to freedom of assembly and speech. It would give the police and military sweeping powers to stop, question, search, and arrest anyone without a warrant, and allow the attorney general to “impose” “voluntary” custodial “rehabilitation” on a person who has not been convicted of any crime”, it mentioned.

Accordingly, Human Rights Watch called on the Sri Lankan government to impose a full moratorium on the PTA and work to repeal it and to draft rights respecting counterterrorism legislation in consultation with experts and civil society.

Furthermore, it called on foreign partners including the United States, EU, and UK to insist that Sri Lanka abides by commitments to repeal the law.

It also emphasized that the UN Human Rights Council should renew the mandates of resolution 46/1 for reporting and investigating human rights violations in Sri Lanka.