Amnesty International has called on the government to immediately withdraw the proposed Prevention of Organised Crimes Bill, warning that it could grant authorities sweeping powers that undermine human rights, due process and fair trial guarantees.
The bill, tabled in Parliament on October 6, contains provisions that would allow suspects to be detained for up to two years before trial, permit certain confessions made to police officers to be admitted as evidence, and restrict media reporting on court proceedings, according to Amnesty International.
The international human rights organisation said the proposed legislation also grants police broad powers to conduct searches without warrants and obtain personal information from telecommunications and digital service providers without a court order.
Amnesty International’s South Asia Director, Smriti Singh, described the bill as the latest in a series of proposed laws raising concerns over civil liberties, saying it incorporates several restrictive elements of Sri Lanka’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA).
“The bill entrenches impunity and risks reviving the conditions that enabled arbitrary detention, torture and other ill-treatment under the PTA,” Singh said, urging the government to withdraw the legislation and conduct meaningful public consultations on measures to combat organised crime while safeguarding human rights.
The organisation also raised concerns over provisions that would allow courts to consider factors such as clothing, tattoos, hand signs, language, past conduct and associations when determining whether an individual belongs to an organised criminal group.
Amnesty International warned that such provisions could lead to discriminatory profiling and undermine the right to a fair trial by allowing suspicion and association to influence criminal proceedings.
The proposed legislation defines an organised criminal group as a structured group of three or more people acting together over a period of time to obtain financial or other material benefits.
Under the bill, individuals accused of membership in an organised criminal group could face detention for up to one year before being charged, followed by a further year in pretrial detention, Amnesty International said.
The organisation warned that the proposed measures could weaken safeguards against arbitrary detention and torture, while increasing the risk of abuse of police powers and violations of privacy.
Amnesty International called on the government to withdraw the bill in its entirety and pursue alternative measures to address organised crime that comply with international human rights standards.
