Sri Lanka’s Minister of Justice Wijeyadasa Rajapaksa said the government will not be reviewing the country’s Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) until after 19th Amendment has been approved by parliament.
The Sunday Leader reported the minister as saying the government’s “full attention is now being given to passing the 19th Amendment” and matter such as the PTA will be taken up afterwards.
The PTA has been criticised by international human rights organisations, who have repeatedly called for the act to be repealed.
Earlier this month Mr Rajapaksa claimed that only 210 persons were detained under the PTA. His comments sparked outcry, coming after Tamil National Alliance spokesperson Suresh Premachandran had earlier stated over 20,000 Tamils had disappeared during and after the war, with reports many were being held in various secret camps across the country.
See our earlier posts:
Sri Lanka justice minister denies mass detentions under anti-terror laws (02 Apr 2015)
Tamils still held in secret Sri Lankan military camps (31 Mar 2015)
Sri Lanka should repeal PTA and prevent torture - Human Rights Watch (05 Mar 2015)
Over 700 people held at secret army camp – TNA (20 Feb 2015)
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