File photo: Ali Sabry
Sri Lankan Justice Minister, Ali Sabry, stated that cases pending and filed prior to 2016 under the draconian Prevention of Terrorism Act (PTA) will be concluded by the end of this year.
“People who are awaiting trial under the PTA should be charged. If there are no charges, they should be released," he stressed.
Sabry, who made the comments during an interview earlier this month, said that “an experts committee has been appointed to make recommendations on the PTA within the next three months” in response to whether the Sri Lankan government will repeal or amend the PTA. However, Sabry was reluctant to clarify whether they would repeal or amend it and insisted that “It is premature for us to say as we await the experts’ report. The report, once done, will be referred to the Cabinet and the Cabinet has to decide whether it is a repeal or amendment.”
Sabry highlighted the “new challenges” of terrorism that need to be combatted and noted that the new counter-terrorism law has been designed to combat new forms of terrorism. He maintained that they will be dealt with firmly but this could mean could mean another “six more months down the line” before a decision is made on the PTA. “Terrorists use information technology and money laundering as a means of funding. They use the latest technology for radicali[s]ation. In some countries, even cryptocurrencies are used for funding terrorism. We have to maintain national security with zero tolerance on terrorism,” he said.
In June 2021, the European Union passed a resolution calling for a suspension of the GSP+ trading preferences if Sri Lanka continues to fail to abide by its international rights obligations, in particular to its arbitrary use of the PTA. In response to a question on how his department responds to the concerns raised in the European Parliament resolution when evaluating the PTA, Sabry asserted that “if there are valid concerns, we will take it into consideration. We are engaging them. But, even in Sri Lanka, there is a call for the need to reform the PTA. It, anyway, has to be done. Otherwise it is not because of the European Union saying it. But, we will not let down the national security while strengthening people’s liberty at the same time.”
Last month, despite the proposed reforms of The Presidential Commission of Inquiry for Appraisal of the Findings of Previous Commissions and Committees on Human Rights and the Way Forward, Tamil parliamentarians and human rights activists have maintained the need for a full repeal of the draconian legislation. Commenting on the legislation, Tamil National Alliance MP, MA Sumanthiran stressed that the PTA cannot be amended, instead “you have to repeal the PTA”. “The whole basis, the foundation of the law is flawed,” he added.
