By Mimi Alphonsus
Since the new government came to power, ten people have been arrested through the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA), a controversial law that the NPP promised to eliminate. According to the police media division, six individuals were arrested in connection with the Arugam Bay incident and President Anura Kumara Dissanayake signed their detention orders. Four more were arrested for social media posts during Maaveerar Day, of which three were granted bail and one was further remanded. Notably, all four were charged under the penal code, not the PTA.
Bhavani Fonseka
The NPP manifesto called for “Abolition of all oppressive acts including the Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) and ensuring civil rights of people in all parts of the country.” However, the recent use of the PTA, President Dissanayake’s willingness to issue detention orders, and statements by NPP politicians have cast doubt on their commitment. Most recently, Justice Minister Harshana Nanayakkara, confirmed that the PTA will be repealed, but added that it will be replaced with another anti-terror law.
The PTA is controversial because it effectively permits prolonged detention of suspects and allows for a broad interpretation of terrorism that can be used to suppress freedom of speech. Although the 2022 amendments to the law covered some of these issues, it did not resolve them entirely. By having limited provisions for bail and allowing people to be detained through orders from the Minister of Defence–rather than being brought before a judge–the PTA allows the police to incarcerate someone on suspicion of terrorism, without charging them, for a prolonged period.
These broad powers have resulted in many injustices. According to an August 2024 report by Right to Life Human Rights Centre, a civil society organisation, between 2009 and August 2024, 4100 people were arrested under the PTA. Of these, only 342 have been charged.
So what happens to the rest?
Following the 2022 amendments, many are released on bail. They are often charged with crimes that fall under ordinary laws in the country as was the case with the four Maaveerar Day detainees. According to police these detainees were arrested and detained under the PTA for days. However, ultimately they were charged only under section 125 of the Penal Code, not the PTA, demonstrating the over-reliance by police on the controversial act when conducting arrests.
Some detainees have been sent to rehabilitation, without trial. Still others are released without any charges at all, sometimes after years of languishing in prison. According to the 2020 Prison Report by the Human Rights Commission of Sri Lanka, nearly 60% of male remand prisoners arrested under the PTA have spent over five years in prison–without ever being convicted of a crime. 22% have spent more than 10 years.
The long incarcerations are life-changing. Joseph (name changed) spent years in detention before being released due to lack of evidence. He was incarcerated for over 12 years under the PTA leaving behind his three year old toddler and nine month old baby. When Joseph was finally released his children were teenagers. “There were even PTA detainees who came in with me who died in prison,” he said adding, “the law is zero.”
Joseph claims that he was tortured while in detention, something that 83% of male detainees and 100% of female detainees also alleged in the HRCSL report. Besides torture, forced confessions, medical issues, lack of proper access to lawyers, and discrimination are all common experiences of PTA detainees, the report revealed.
Joseph’s family suffered as a result of his detention too. His wife says that she was ostracised by society who claimed she was with the LTTE. “I couldn’t put my child to school for a year after the arrest. Ttrishaws wouldn’t come for me,” she said.
Due to these human rights concerns, the HRCSL has called for the PTA’s abolition as has local civil society groups and United Nations experts. In parliament there is bipartisan support for the repealing of the PTA–209 out of 225 MPs belong to parties that have publicly supported abolishing the law.
But based on Justice Minister Nanayakkara’s statements in parliament, it appears a repeal won’t be as quick as some had hoped. The Minister said that a new anti-terror law will have to be drafted as well. Sunday Times was unable to get a timeline on the reforms from the Ministry.
Critics are suspicious, alleging that past attempts at a new law, specifically the 2019 Counter Terrorism Act (CTA) and the 2023 Anti Terrorism Act (ATA), have made improvements but still granted excessive powers. Moreover, the CTA and ATA were never passed partly due to long delays. Consequently the PTA was never repealed despite promises from previous regimes and PTA detentions continued.
Bhavani Fonseka, a human rights lawyer and researcher with the Centre for Policy Alternatives, said that even the reforms proposed in the CTA and ATA faced strong opposition from the security sector and others. Ms Fonseka agrees that law reforms to address evolving terror threats is necessary but emphasised that the PTA has not been abolished because no government wants to relinquish that power and because “the security apparatus does not want it repealed.”
Sri Lanka is one of very few democratic countries in the world to have such overreaching anti-terror laws. Most anti-terror laws, such as those in the US, India and the UK, have been far weaker and have had systems in place for judicial oversight. Dhanushka Silva, a lawyer who regularly represents PTA detainees and authored the Right to Life report, said that the global trend has been to repeal or heavily amend the anti-terror laws passed in the 1970s. But Mr. Silva is skeptical that the Sri Lankan government will be able to get on board. He believes that the security establishment has an “institutional attitude” of using the PTA for ease of investigations and is doubtful that the government will be able to “break these bureaucratic attitudes.”
While detentions under the PTA have generally declined since the end of the war, and after the Easter Sunday attacks, hundreds are still impacted by its use. Critics have called for a moratorium on the use of the law until it is repealed or replaced, but so far the new government has shown no indication of relenting. Courtesy- The Sunday Times
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